Alterations
by MiniRoonie
Summary: Revised version has been uploaded under, "Our Nindo". This story will be deleted.
1. War

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**Chapter One**

_War_

With a loud battle cry, Tsunade planted her fist into the ground. She quickly leaped aside as rocks and trees uprooted around her. When she landed, she took a quick glance around. Her lips stretched into a smirk when she heard the resounding popping noises throughout the tattered vicinity.

The clones were hard to destroy but they were still clones.

She squinted, blocking the sun from her eyes with her hand. She could see more of them coming, far off in the distance.

The screech of a bird caught her attention. Glancing sideways, she watched Sai soundlessly jump off of his ink bird. Monitoring the battles going on around her, Tsunade grit her teeth. This war was not an easy one, but when was war ever easy?

When she saw Sai pull his tanto from behind him, she pumped chakra through her fists. Another round of Zetsu clones surrounded them.

"Tch!" Tsunade punched the nearest clone.

She crouched low and slid her leg out, chakra coursing through them. With two more clones destroyed, she quickly, punched through three more.

"Sai!" When she felt him press his back against hers, she continued, "When we get through this batch, I want you to scout around with your ink clones. Provide assistance to any Konoha-nin." They dodged a few well-aimed kunai, "If you can, find someone from Team Seven and make sure they don't do anything reckless! Kami only knows what that team thinks whenever Sasuke is nearby!"

Sai nodded, his face not betraying any emotion, "Hai, Tsunade-sama!"

Tsunade mentally sighed. Sai had managed to open up since joining Team Seven, but war had obviously pulled him back into his days in ROOT.

Tsunade growled loudly**,** "How the hell are there so many?"

She summoned her chakra and angrily cut through five more clones. Jumping close to a tree, she wrapped her arms around it and pulled. Not hesitating, she spun around, successfully taking out at least twenty clones.

_Dammit! I can only hope that everyone else is okay. I can't afford to heal everyone this time around. I feel asleep for a few days and I end up waking up to a war! _Her brown orbs narrowed dangerously, _Konoha will not lose! Especially not when one of our own is on the line here. Not when Naruto is in danger! _She scowled, _That damn Gaki is gonna be the death of me!_

A large clawed hand suddenly swiped at her. Sai flashed in front of her, his tanto holding it off. The unknown man was quick to punch Sai in his unguarded stomach, sending the ex-ROOT member into a nearby boulder. Tsunade glared at the orange-haired man, her angry thoughts distracted by the sight of his eyes. A familiar pair of yellow irises stared back at her with a psychotic gleam in them. Those eyes were the stigma of the Curse Mark. Tsunade immediately recognized their opponent.

_Jugo_. Also known as Jugo of the Scales, he was the source of Orochimaru's juinjutsu as well as the man who followed Sasuke on his mission to find Itachi.

Her hands quickly flashed through the signs. Pushing her palms against the ground, a large puff of smoke appeared. Out of it raised Katsuya with Tsunade standing and glaring down at everyone from her place on top of the giant slug.

* * *

Mutters and cries passed by his ears, forcing him to stop. Kakashi turned his head toward the source of the noise: a dark alleyway. With his Sharingan already unveiled, he could easily see that the people whispering were running low on their chakra or had pre-existing low chakra.

He slipped out two kunais, prepared for anything. Pressing himself against the wall, he tilted his head to see into the alley. His eyes grew wide as he spotted the three children, all very young, who were huddled together. They were crying, making their attempts to remain silent unsuccessful. Kakashi kept one kunai out, slipping the other into its holder. It was still best to be prepared as it was a time of war. He revealed himself to the children, not surprised by their frightened gasps.

"Don't worry, I'm a Konoha-nin," he allowed them to see the hitai-ite tied around his forehead.

Ultimately, however, it wasn't the headband that calmed them; but the fact that he had the Sharingan. They knew who he was: Sharingan no Kakashi, a prodigy of his time and one of Konoha's best shinobi. Each of them were quick to gather around him, knowing that as a Konoha-nin, he would protect them. Kakashi knew it wouldn't be easy to get all three of them to the safe house; there was no safety in numbers at this point.

"Shh, it's alright now. I'm going to need two of you to climb on my back and keep a firm hold on my neck. The last," he pointed to the only girl, "will be carried by me, but I want you to hang onto my vest, too."

They each gave hesitant nods. For Kakashi, that was enough. He bent down to allow the two boys to climb onto his back. It was there that he suddenly felt it: a chakra that he hadn't felt in years.

"Kakashi..."

Kakashi turned his head toward the stoic voice. His red and black eye narrowed.

"Sasuke..." Kakashi stood quickly, pushing the scared kids behind him, "What are you doing here?"

Kakashi knew why Sasuke was in Konoha. The Uchiha wanted his revenge and, according to Sasuke, all of Konoha needed to be destroyed. That was the only way the Uchiha Clan would—no, that is the only way the Uchiha Clan _could—_be revived. Regardless, that wasn't what Kakashi was asking Sasuke. They both knew what he wanted with Konoha. Kakashi was curious to know what Sasuke wanted with _him_. Sasuke could easily identify chakra, so had he wanted to, he could have avoided interacting with his former sensei completely. But, the fact remained that he didn't avoid Kakashi.

Sasuke purposely sought him out.

_He wants something. But what?_

Sasuke tilted his head slightly, regarding Kakashi with a passive expression that, for only a second, Kakashi saw the young twelve-year-old that he had been. The image was shattered when Sasuke spoke.

"I don't think you need to know that...Sensei," Sasuke gave a small smirk**;** a glint in his eyes.

Kakashi mentally cursed Sasuke. The kids he was protecting were now tense and backing away. They probably doubted him now. In their minds, he was the sensei of someone evil, which automatically made him evil, too. He needed to get them out of the area. And now.

With a quick look at Sasuke, Kakashi grabbed each of the kids and took off. He wasn't at his fastest because of the kids' weight and their odd positions in his arms, but he was ANBU and older than Sasuke. He had a small advantage if nothing else. Stopping for a second, Kakashi formed hand seals and then quickly continued on with his precious cargo. Sasuke arrived just in time to see a clone run off with the kids while the real one stood and faced him.

Smart, but not really.

Sasuke had no interest in the kids. The only thing Kakashi had done was make it easier to kill him as he wasted half of his chakra to make one clone. Sliding his sword out of its sheath, Sasuke smirked arrogantly. This was so easy that it was almost pathetic. Sasuke rushed forward, his sword ready to strike. Kakashi took out a kunai and blocked the sword. He didn't expect the lightning to charge through the metal, making his attempted block useless. Kakashi's visible eye widened with sudden pain.

Looking down, blood seeping through his mask, Kakashi found the metal going through his abdomen, "Dammit."

It was the last thing he said before his body turned bright blue and exploded in a charge of lightening, blasting Sasuke and everything around him away. Sasuke threw the rubble off him and stood, flexing his fingers carefully. His hand had been clenched around the sword when the bushin dispersed, and his hand was slightly numb from the electricity.

_Kakashi switched places with the clone seconds before I could hit him. That or the original was the one that left with the kids. Either way, I never expected a Raiton Kage Bushin. Raiton...Kage bushin...huh?_

A small mocking chuckle escaped his mouth, "Another original move, Kakashi?" He turned his head to the side; Kakashi was there. "Or was that another copy you got thanks to the Uchiha's Doujutsu?"

Sasuke turned toward Kakashi. Taking only one step, the ground under him cracked violently. Sasuke's eyes widened slightly. He knew exactly what was going to happen next! Before he could jump away, all eight of the ninken that were Kakashi's summons burst out of the ground and clamped down on him.

* * *

Sakura cursed loudly as more of the familiar enemy clones charged at her. _This can't be right! How can anybody make so many clones? Naruto could but he has the nine-tails. Nobody else, except maybe the Hachibi, should be able to do this._

With a quick punch to the ground, Sakura retreated and rushed to where a familiar chakra was looming. Quickly entering the interrogation building, which had become a base during the war, Sakura's eyes darted around until they landed on one person: Karin. Others were also in the room, gathering kunais or solider pills, but Sakura wasn't interested in them. She needed Ino and Karin out on the battlefield with her now!

Karin was easy to spot with her red hair, which draped proudly around the Konohagakure hitai-ite on her forehead. Sakura began moving toward her; Karin should know where Ino was. A few steps closer and Sakura could now see both of them standing and talking about something. Seeing Ino smile at something Karin said made her stop for a moment.

Sakura couldn't lie and say that the war wasn't taking its toll on her, because it was. She saw more gruesome things than many other fighters out there did, especially being a medic-nin. She not only had to fight on the front lines because of her techniques, but she also had to take her shift in the hospitals to take care of the desperate cases.

Ino and Karin also saw a lot of the war. The Yamanaka, Nara, and Akimichi Clans were desperately being used right now for the way they comfortably fought at each others' sides. Karin was usually a back up on the field, due to her skills, but the former sound-nin was mostly assigned to Sakura. A medic-nin needs to be protected, after all. Without the medic, the rest will eventually fall. At least, that's what Tsunade had drilled into her head when she was still in training.

Sakura turned into a hallway and opened up another room. Inside were many medic teams, each from different villages but working together to make antidotes and poisons. Sakura herself worked in this particular room more than anyone else. Poisons were her specialty, after all.

Nodding to a few medics, Sakura grabbed a handful of the poisons from the shelves and laid her weapons on the table next to them. She couldn't hit Sasuke with the poisoned kunai but she could, and would, get the clones of the mysterious Akatsuki member, Zetsu.

Sakura let out a tired sigh. No matter how long she wanted to extend Ino and Karin's rest, it was time to fight. They had to fight. She had to fight.

Not only for Konoha.

Not only for the rest of the Hidden Villages.

This war is for Naruto and no one, not even Sasuke, was going to take Naruto from her.

She'd rather die than see Naruto get hurt.

* * *

"I don't care what you say! That is my village in war, those are my friends battling! I wasn't gonna sit on that island while everyone fought for me!" Naruto's blue eyes hardened, "I can't be the one protected when I'm supposed to do the protecting!"

Naruto pushed his body to run faster but he spared a glance at the person running beside him, "Dammit! I can't believe I fell for that stupid false mission! Now...Yamato...gah!"

Killer Bee said nothing. Naruto took this as acceptance to let him leave since he was still following and not attempting to hold him back. Naruto turned back to the path in front of him as he ran and jumped through the trees. They were getting so close to Konoha, yet they were still so far away.

_Why?_ He clenched his fists, _Why would they hide me away? I beat Pein. I can beat Madara, too! I can and will fight Sasuke. They should have more faith in me, dammit!_

That was all he could think about. How could Tsunade-baa-chan just agree to hide him away when there was a fight to be won? She knew he was strong. Gaara knew he was strong, too! So why was everyone still doubting him? Why weren't they at least giving him a chance? This war, all of it was a battle to see who wins and gets to keep him, but he wasn't a prize! He wasn't just going to sit there and let them fight over him. He was going to be an active part of that war even if everyone disagreed on it.

Uzumaki Naruto, son to Uzumaki Kushina and Namikaze Minato, did not give up!

Maybe you could trick him; maybe you could force him. But he would never, ever chose to willingly watch as things unfolded before him. He would be a part of that unfolding no matter what!

And-

_And dammit! Konoha had better be fine when I get there! I will not allow my home to be destroyed!_

Killer Bee's form suddenly appeared in front of him, his back to Naruto.

"Bee?" Naruto looked over his shoulder. His eyes narrowed, his teeth clenched, and his fists bled, "Uchiha Madara!"

"Ah, Naruto. Why do you sound so angry? I'm just here to make things easier for everyone."

Naruto gave him a disbelieving look, "Oh yeah? How?"

"You two could just give yourselves to me and then the war would end. Simple, right?"

Killer Bee snorted and crossed his arms, "As if! You're a liar to the bone and we ain't gonna believe you!"

Madara smirked, though it was unknown to them. Suddenly, Kabuto appeared next to him, "Hello again, Naruto-kun."

Naruto tensed, "Kabuto..."

"Hey, Naruto," Naruto turned to Killer Bee, who was still facing both Madara and Kabuto, "You go ahead. I'll stay here."

"But-"

"I said _go_, so I mean go. Now go!"

Naruto gave him a hard stare but the thought of Konoha and everyone made him run. He had to make sure they were safe. For allowing him that chance, he would forever be grateful to Killer Bee. He may have been a tough jerk but he was alright in Naruto's book. Maybe under different circumstances they could have been friends and not just allies in war. For now, though, as he heard the loud roar of the Hachibi, Naruto could only silently thank him and wish him luck.

* * *

Naruto glanced up at the night sky, a small, carefree smile twitching at the corners of his mouth. Everything sounded so quiet, but he could still see the many battles from the periphery of his vision.

Why was there no sound?

* * *

Kakashi forcefully panted, his gaze never leaving Sasuke. This wasn't smart. He had been fighting for at least two days without rest. Going up against Sasuke—who had training with Madara Uchiha—was suicidal.

Regardless, he refused to leave this battle.

This was his battle. He just hoped no one else tried to interfere. Kakashi let his gaze linger on the body laying a few feet from them, tossed aside without a care.

_Hinata-san...she wasn't my student but I do know she cared for Naruto a great deal, _Kakashi turned away from the bleeding body, _I just wish I could have saved you from Sasuke._

Kakashi closed his eyes for a brief second and breathed deeply. His chakra was almost completely gone from fighting, and to be honest, he was tired. He used his special Raiton Kage Bunshin, two Chidoris, his summons, and the Sharingan. So yes, he was _very_ tired. Nevertheless, if he didn't continue, then someone else would. Nobody besides an original member of Team Seven could possibly stand up to Sasuke now.

Heck, even there, he had his doubts. Pushing away his thoughts, Kakashi focused back on the problem at hand: his former student.

Glancing again at Sasuke, he made sure not to look into the Uchiha's eyes. One look into them and he knew he would lose. Doing a quick once-over on his opponent, Kakashi noticed the wounds on Sasuke's shoulders, legs, and hip. Those were all from ninken. At the thought of them, Kakashi mentally thanked whatever stopped him in time. Sasuke had moved right before Kakashi could execute the Raikiri on him and thus had left his ninken there to be hit. He had almost killed his own Summons.

Kakashi noticed that Sasuke was breathing harder than normal. Overall, though**, **the Uchiha was still fine. Kakashi himself, however, couldn't say the same thing. He was weak and Sasuke was still strong. He was going to end up dead at this rate.

Suddenly, Sasuke began executing hand seals. To anyone other than Hatake Kakashi, it would look as if Sasuke was moving at incredible speeds. Kakashi, however, matched the speed and type of hand seals perfectly.

Breathing in deeply, they both released a large stream of fire.

Kakashi barley noticed Sasuke narrow his eyes as the fires grew hotter and more expansive. Kakashi could only guess that Sasuke was probably mad that he was copying techniques that belonged to the Uchiha Clan. Of course, he wasn't known as the famous Sharingan no Kakashi for nothing.

Seeing Sasuke close his left eye, Kakashi tensed. _It can't be..._

A few seconds later, Sasuke's left eye began to bleed. Opening his eye quickly, black flames soon smothered Kakashi's own fire, extinguishing it and leaving a shocked and speechless Kakashi in its wake.

Kakashi didn't wait to see what Sasuke would do next. Bringing out his hand, he summoned his Lightning Release and focused on making it expand. He was taking a huge risk by doing this but he didn't have much of a choice at the moment. Sasuke was quickly pushing him to his limit, and while he might have been going all out, he was positive that Sasuke hadn't even used half of his full strength. After all, if Sasuke could use Amaterasu without being visibly tired, then he was clearly a lot stronger then he let on.

Extending his hand toward Sasuke, the lightning shot out, taking the shape of a hound as it quickly made its way toward the rogue-nin. Despite the fact that it was only one hound, the technique actually used a lot of chakra. It required the user to constantly draw on chakra to both retain the lightning and the distance of how far the hound could go.

As Sasuke continued to jump away from the hound each and every time, Kakashi clenched his teeth. Sasuke was messing with him, he knew, but he continued to use his lightning hound. If by some miracle he could hit Sasuke, he could use his Mangekyo Sharingan on his old student.

Adding more chakra into his attack, Kakashi watched as Sasuke continued to jump away. Then, it happened: Sasuke leaped onto a nearby building. As soon as his foot touched the structure, it crumbled under the added weight, taking a stunned Sasuke with it.

Kakashi, not wanting to let an opportunity pass him by, forced more chakra into the jutsu and aimed it straight at Sasuke. Everything crashed together at that moment, sending dust in every direction. Kakashi covered his eyes but when he opened them, Sasuke was nowhere to be found.

His voice came from behind Kakashi, his tone mocking, "Was that really your best attempt? So much for Sharingan no Kakashi, eh, Sensei?"

Swiftly turning, he inadvertently met Sasuke's gaze...

It was the worst mistake he could have made! Kakashi blinked in shock as the world around him changed. No longer was he in the destroyed village of Konoha. Instead, he was shoved into a vast, inky blackness. Not one shred of color covered the darkness that was absolutely everywhere.

If only it had stayed that way.

All around him were images of the Sharingan spinning madly surrounded him. Each Sharingan he looked at showed him his worst memories**-**his mistakes. Each Sharingan showed him how much he had failed. Along with each memory came sword after sword, each piercing some part of his body

.0.

"...Why?"

Lifeless black eyes stared back at him, if not for the occasional blink, Kakashi would have been sure that his father was dead.

"I did it for them...they needed to live."

"WHAT ABOUT KONOHA! YOU MADE KONOHA SUFFER BECAUSE OF THAT!" Kakashi grithis teeth in anger, "IT'S WHY WE HAVE RULES; SO SHINOBI KNOW WHAT TO DO!" Kakashi was panting heavily while trying desperately to keep frustrated tears at bay.

_Why...why! Because of him-because of him, everyone hates me!_ Kakashi clenched his fists, _They hate me. They hate me. They hate me. They hate-_

"I HATE YOU!"

With that, Kakashi ran out of the room, not knowing his father was about to commit the worst thing a shinobi could do.

His father was about to take his own life.

.0.

"Obito!" Kakashi clenched his teeth in frustration "T-This is my entire fault...I shouldn't have become a Jonin! Look at what my decisions have caused!"

_If it weren't for me, you wouldn't be like this! You would still be okay!_ _This is all myfault! It doesn't matter if you say it wasn't, because I know it is! He_ clenched his fist and pulled back, continuously punching the ground, silent tears falling one by one.

.0.

"DON'T DO IT, RIN!" his eyes widened in horror.

He knew.

He knew that she had feelings for him, but he just couldn't do it. He couldn't bring himself to like her, to love her as she wanted. She deserved better than someone like him. She would have had better if he hadn't been stupid when he was younger. But this, this was just going too far, though!

Her haunted, broken eyes stared back at him-the same eyes she'd had ever since the incident. In his shock, her fingers slipped.

He screamed.

She fell.

Her body hit the ground...her eyes never leaving his. Her last hallow smile engraved itself in his memory, forever...

She killed herself and he failed to keep his most important promise...he failed for the second time in protecting his teammates.

.0.

"Where's my sensei, Sandaime-sama?"

The aged man just looked away. As each minute ticked off the clock, Kakashi became more and more worried.

"...I'm sorry, Kakashi..."

"No..." Kakashi whispered in his shock, "W-what about Kushina?"

The Sandaime never looked up as he sighed, "She's gone, too..."

Kakashi bolted out of the office, not wanting to hear another word, _They still have things to do...they still have their son...they need to watch their son grow..._

His sensei and his wife shouldn't have died! It should have been him instead!

.0.

He barely turned his head to glance at the girl hiding behind the pole. Her pink hair betrayed her, as he was easily able to see her.

How could he have let her see this? She was innocent; she didn't know anything about the pain they were going through. He had even allowed her to believe that everything would just go back to normal; that everything would be fine. She didn't need to cry or worry over the current situation of things. That had been his mistake. He had fooled Sakura into thinking everything would be okay. When it only became worse, he could see how it only hurt her more than the truth ever could have.

And now, with Sasuke's defection, she must be torn. He turned his head back around when he heard Pakkun's howl.

_What kind of sensei am I?_

.0.

His eyes softened as he watched him. He had grown up to be such a strong boy—no, a strong _man_.

Uzumaki Naruto...

Another one of his failures: Kakashi failed to keep the promise to protect Naruto from loneliness. He couldn't help it, though. Every time he looked at Naruto, he saw Namikaze Minato. Every time Naruto spoke, he heard Uzumaki Kushina.

He couldn't help but break the promise. He would have been tortured with the memories of his loved ones. Naruto looked too much like his father and he acted too much like his mother.

.0.

Trembling, he gripped his head. This was all an illusion; he just needed to know how to break out of it. Activating his Mangekyo Sharingan, the illusion fell in front of him. The damage, however, remained. He was visibly shaken from the visions he had been forced to confront. Kakashi quickly looked up when he felt the scorching heat that was emanating from in front of him.

Amaterasu.

It was too close to dodge and that left him only one option. Kakashi closed his eyes in resignation. It would seem he was going to die; his careless mistake leading him to his death. It was up to Sakura and Naruto to stop Sasuke now. Though Sakura may have a more difficult time, she'll know what to do when the time is right. The only thing Kakashi truly regretted was that he didn't teach his students to the best of his ability.

From the moment he laid eyes on them, he knew they were going to be trouble: an avenger, a troublemaker plus kyuubi container, and the obsessed fan girl. As time passed, however, he couldn't believe how much they had grown as individuals. But as much he had wanted to, he couldn't take credit for teaching them. Not Naruto, who would definitely become Hokage, and not Sakura, who would most certainly become the greatest medic alive-easily surpassing her mentor, Tsunade.

He admittedly concentrated on Sasuke during their early training. He didn't know what made him so...judgmental...but maybe at the time he didn't think they were worthy of his attention. He had ended up casting them aside, focusing on the prodigal Uchiha. When Sasuke betrayed Konoha, his plan to turn Sasuke into the greatest shinobi ultimately failed with his student's defection.

It was then he realized his mistakes.

By that time, everyone had found a new sensei: Naruto had Jiraiya and Sakura had Tsunade. Even Sasuke had Orochimaru. Everyone was talking about them, how they were going to be the new Legendary Sannin. And he didn't have anything to do with it. _That_ had been his ultimate failure...

_I wish I could have been better to them..._

It was at that moment that the intense black flames hit his skin. He screamed.

* * *

Sasuke stared down at the burnt body with disdain. He had believed that Kakashi was strong, but he should have known better. Kakashi was a Konoha-nin after all, and they were all pathetically weak. With one glance around the area, Sasuke bent over Kakashi's body.

Kakashi had died very quickly, too quickly for a Sharingan user—even if he hadn't been born one. For a person who achieved the Mangekyo Sharingan, that was pitiful.

Slowly opening the burnt eyelid, Sasuke stared at the still-activated Sharingan. It was no wonder Danzo had been able to steal the Sharingan from his relatives after their death. The Sharingan, it never deactivated upon the user's death. For a brief moment, Sasuke wondered if Itachi knew this, but that thought was quickly pushed from his mind. He had approached Kakashi for one reason and one reason only.

Dropping his sword, he used his left hand to keep the eyelid open and with his right hand, he dug the prized eye from Kakashi's skull. Retrieving his sword, he stood over the body, staring at it without an expression upon his own face. He wasn't exactly sure what he should be feeling but it was best not to dwell on it. Backing away, Sasuke looked at the bloody eye in his hand. He briefly thought of giving it to Madara.

His eyes narrowed as he clenched his hand, squashing the tiny organ in the process. He smirked as a familiar scream suddenly tore through the air.

It would seem that Sakura was here. How interesting...

* * *

Gripping the thick branch under her feet, Sakura stared at the scene below her in anguish. There were many things that, as a medic-nin, she had come to see, but this was too much. Way too much. No matter how many deaths she witnessed, this one would haunt her forever.

The brutal murder of her sensei by her former teammate and love interest was something that she would never forget. Tears clouded her vision. Not once thinking of the danger that Sasuke presented, Sakura jumped off her perch and ran toward the unmoving body of her former instructor.

"Kakashi-sensei!"

Nearing the burnt body, she wasted no time in surging her medical chakra into her hands and over Kakashi's body. Her tears had nearly completely blurred her vision.

_You can't die! You're- _Sakura clenched her teeth together, _you're not allowed to die!_

The tears were falling now.

Across from her, Sasuke stood, staring at the scene with a passive look. A small, sadistic smirk was slowly stretching across his face. Sakura hardly paid attention. She repressed the vomit that was rising in her throat. Now was not the time; she needed to focus!

Narrowing her eyes, Sakura forced her chakra into Kakashi's body. She continued to do so, even though she couldn't feel his chakra responding to hers. There had to be something that she could do!

"You're too late, Sakura," Sasuke's voice taunted her.

Coldness washed over her. The soft green medical glow around her fingers flickered out of existence as she stared at Kakashi unresponsive face, her tears still falling. How could this happen? She already witnessed a large part of her village destroyed. She watched as civilians and shinobi's died at the hands of the hundreds of clones from the Akatsuki member, Zetsu. Why did she have to see her sensei die, too?

Sometime after Rock Lee's death after rescuing _her, _Sakura had accepted that she wouldn't be able to save all of her precious people despite her strong will to try. But...her sensei, it was too much! Her lips pulled back into a sneer.

_Blame Sasuke! It's his fault! He's the reason that everything is happening! _Sakura's inner mind screamed at her. She knew she wouldn't, though, despite so desperately wanting to believe it. She wanted to hate him, but she couldn't. Sasuke was the boy that her traitorous heart had chosen to love. To her heart, Sasuke would always be that same, proud boy that she grew up with despite knowing better. If only she had never been informed of the Uchiha Clan's end by the one trying to save Konoha. If only she never knew that Sasuke's anger with Konoha with justified. If only she couldn't rationalize his actions! She was doing her best to convince herself otherwise though.

No matter how angry Sasuke was, so angry that he was on the verge of insanity, she could not just let him destroy Konoha; it is her village to protect. Even with that information, she didn't want to do it. Sakura wanted to close her eyes and open them, only to find that everything had just been some creative terrifying nightmare or even a genjutsu.

That wouldn't happen, though, as they were childish thoughts. Not that anyone would blame her for thinking this.

"Sakura."

With wide eyes, Sakura snapped her head up and watched with fear as Sasuke charged up one of his most famous Jutsus: Chidori.

Her green eyes never strayed from his onyx gaze despite the growing threat. How could the boy that had defended her in the Land of Waves be the same one that stood before her now? It was impossible. The knowledge of the events surrounding Sasuke and the Uchiha Clan crossed her mind. Who was she to make judgment? Sasuke's decisions were made solely on what he knew, and if that information happened to be wrong or twisted, then he couldn't help his misinformed anger.

One blink and he was gone

Two blinks and he was in front of her, ready to run her through with his lightning-charged sword. She stumbled backward, ready to run. Ultimately, though, she knew she wouldn't.

Just as she had closed her eyes, surrendering herself to her fate as Kakashi had, she hit the ground under the weight of a heavy body.

* * *

P.S.: Lets all give a round of applause to my new beta, **Persephonae**, for doing an amazing job on beta-ing!

P.S.S.: A quick thank you and recognition goes to author Reiuko for helping me along the way with creating this story plot.

Updated on Decemeber 20, 2010


	2. Wishes

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**.**

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**Chapter Two**

_Wishes_

Naruto pushed himself to run faster. He could hear it now: the sounds of battle coming from all around him. It could only mean that he was nearing Konoha; the main battlefield for the war.

_Come on...come on! I need to run faster!_

He clenched his fists. The first thing he would need to do once getting to Konoha was to find Shizune or Tsunade. Better yet...Sakura.

_Sakura-chan...Please don't try to go after Sasuke again...please..._

* * *

She groaned as her back painfully spasmed from the impact.

"Come on, hag! We don't need you to be stupid right now."

Sakura opened her eyes to find a smiling Sai. It was his real smile, the same one that always comforted her.

_Sai is okay._

Despite him being a nuisance, he had grown on her just like Naruto had. To know he was alive gave her relief.

Then...she realized something.

"S-Sai, what are you doing here? You're supposed to be guarding Tsunade-sama!" Sakura glared at him, more out of concern for her master than anything else.

Sai looked at Sasuke before turning back to her with another smile, this one fake, "I'm saving you, obviously." He tightened his grip on her back. "Honestly hag, I didn't think that fall would make you stupid."

Sakura swallowed the lump in her throat. Sai avoided her question, and he never avoided anything. That could only mean...

_Oh kami!_

Sakura pushed Sai off of her. She wanted to run and find Tsunade but Sasuke was still in front of her and she doubted he would just let her go.

Sharingan eyes blazed with anger, all of it directed at _him-_his replacement; the one that took his spot in Konoha. He convinced himself it wasn't out of jealousy but he couldn't get rid of the thought that those were _his_ ex-teammates and it was _his_ ex-village; everything in there was _his_! Sasuke switched his view from Sai's back to her eyes. Green eyes. The ones that still shone with care. All of it directed at him.

He didn't love her, of course; he never would. Not as a lover, not as a friend, not as anything. His Sharingan spun furiously.

Sakura looked around her, suddenly watching as Sasuke, with his bare hands, destroyed Konoha and killed her friends again. And again

...and again

Sasuke smirked. Sure, that replacement might have saved Sakura earlier, but now...

He gripped his sword and lifted it up, easily throwing it in the direction of his former teammate and his stand-in.

...Now he could kill them both with one hit. One accurate throw of his blade, right through both of their necks and they would both be dead.

Sakura blinked her eyes, the genjutsu she was under suddenly lifting. Everything she had witnessed-the destruction of Konoha by Sasuke alone-had all been an illusion.

This wasn't though. Sasuke's sword heading straight for her was all too real. She squeezed her eyes closed in preparation for her fate, but once again found herself thrown to the ground.

One minute she was witnessing her life flash before her eyes and now...now, as she opened her eyes she witnessed Sai die before them instead. Sai's smile never left his face, his eyes never telling her the pain he was experiencing. She could see it though. Sasuke's sword passed through the ex-ROOT member's stomach, completely covered in his blood.

"S-Sai...why?" Sakura's terror shone on her face, her eyes full more of anguish more so than confusion. She didn't let him respond however. Her hands immediately blazed with the familiar green light of her medical jutsu. She didn't know his reasons for trying to save her nor did she care; the medic in her was screaming to take care of his wound. She'd figure out his reasons later; right now, he needed to be saved.

Sakura muttered, her voice low as she started to heal her injured teammate. "I can't believe you would do that...why for me? You and Lee-kun, both of you tried to save me...and your lives...because of me...you..."

Her chakra flickered for a second. She was weak and now her comrades were dying all around her.

Sakura grit her teeth and pushed those thoughts away. She needed to focus on healing Sai. This time, her chakra flickered for a different reason. Her eyes widened as she cursed. This couldn't be happening! How could she be running out of chakra?

Rough pale hands pushed her gloved hands away. Sakura quickly looked up at Sai. "You're wasting your chakra on a hopeless case ugly-"

"Shut-up!" Sakura shook her head, "Im not going to believe that you can't be saved! There has to be something that I can do!"

Her earlier thoughts rushed back into her mind. Sakura's breathing grew rapid. Somewhere in her mind, she knew she should be focusing but the fact that she was _still_ weak affected her beyond anything she had ever felt. She was hyperventilating and she couldn't stop it.

"I am still weak...I'm weak. I'm weak! And now...now I can't even save you. I can't repay you for keeping me alive." Sakura shut her eyes, no longer able to bear the sight of Sai's mortal injuries, "It's all my fault! It's entirely my fault, may-"

The soft feel of lips on her own made Sakura open her eyes. Sai was kissing her. He pulled away from her, though still close enough for her to hear his whisper, "You talk too much, hag, and I read in a book once that kissing a girl distracts her from what is going on. So tell me, did my research finally pay off?"

Sakura felt her eyes grow watery as Sai's slowly closed his eyes. He was dying and all she could do was stay frozen in place, doing nothing but staring at his smiling face as he leaned on her shoulder, his breathing slowing and his eyes closing completely. She didn't care that Sasuke was moving toward her now; she only cared about Sai.

Sasuke stopped moving as Sakura's bangs shielded her eyes from view. He was aware that she was an emotional girl, always showing what she was feeling, no matter the surrounding situation. But now-

Sakura's murderous intent surrounded him yet she showed not one ounce of emotion. She just steadily stood, carefully lowering Sai's body. The entire time, her eyes were never visible to him. While he might have suspected her of crying, he did not see one tear fall from her eyes. In all honestly, he was somewhat impressed with her; had he been anyone else, he would have been instantly rendered paralyzed from the sheer strength of her rage. He had to wonder: what had that boy meant to her? Last time he saw them together, she looked tense and uncomfortable-even seeming angry with the newest member of Team Seven.

Now she was angry with _him_, Uchiha Sasuke, the boy she had once loved. This was a new experience in regards to Sakura. As if she could hear his internal scrutiny, the medic-nin slowly raised her face to meet his gaze.

_You will pay...Uchiha Sasuke!_

Sakura charged at him, fist raised and chakra ready. Sasuke tensed as she closed in on him.

Fist after fist, he dodged her blows. He could tell by the look on her face that she was becoming angrier. He dodged another hit, but this time, instead of Sakura following with another punch, she hit the ground. Just as he smirked because that hit to the ground had most likely damaged her wrist, the earth ripped apart. He quickly dodged boulders, jumping on the large ones to get away. Glancing to his right, he saw Sakura closing in on him. He stopped on a stable tree and rapidly made his desired hand seals. Breathing deeply, he let out a stream of fire when she was close enough.

Sakura was quick to jump away, but her well-intended move proved too slow as the flames grazed her arms. She panted heavily while clenching her burned limb. She tried to put in enough chakra to heal the injury but it proved to be fruitless. She simply didn't have enough chakra to heal, as her last attack had used almost all of her remaining chakra.

Something to her right caught her attention and made her body tense. She quickly pushed herself off the tree to avoid the impending attack, crying out in pain as she was once again too slow. His attack was meant to paralyze her, and she stumbled slightly as she fell onto a low-lying tree branch, causing injury to her shins. She remembered this attack; Sasuke had used it on Team Seven during their first reunion after his defection. If she recalled correctly, he had called it the Chidori Nagashi.

Sakura froze as a shadow loomed over her. She really didn't need to pick up her head to see who it was; she already knew. Besides, it wasn't as if she could lift her head up anyway.

Sasuke looked down at her, _I __had expected better from her. Then again, I __didn't expect her to be this good, either..._

Sasuke knelt to get a better look at her. She was breathing harder, dirtied with soil and blood. Her right arm was burned from his earlier attack. Maybe he had gone a little overboard with that last jutsu, but it was either him or her, and he wasn't about to give up his life. Grabbing her chin, Sasuke lifted her head to make her look at him. He smirked when he saw her glare. He found it amusing to see her try to be brave. She knew she couldn't do anything, yet here she continued to act strong—as if he didn't hold her life in the palm of his hand. She was beginning to act like Naruto, though unlike her teammate, _she_ couldn't live up to her promises.

He spoke to her softly, "You are still weak, Sakura. No matter how many years go by, no matter who your teacher is, you will always be the weakest link of the broken Team Seven." Her eyes began to water and that was when all amusement left him, leaving him filled with a strange emptiness, "You are still annoying, too. You really are just the same old Sakura."

A Chidori began to form in his left hand as he continued to look into Sakura's eyes. He could see the hatred in them, but he could also see the blind care and regard that she still held for him.

_Maybe..._He lowered his lips to hers and gently kissed her..._it wouldn't hurt to make her happy, even if for a short while._

Sakura closed her eyes as Sasuke kissed her. He was being gentle and she was disgusted by her reaction. She could taste her blood, sweat, and tears—all three caused by him, yet she couldn't help but return the kiss of a person that had destroyed her home and taken the lives of those closest to her.

She was betraying her village, her friends, and her family-. She was betraying Naruto, Kakashi, Ino and Tsunade—those most important to her. She felt like such a traitor, but she just couldn't stop. Sakura let her mind fly back to their days as genin, back to the days when her love had simply been an infatuation. Her eyes suddenly flew open as an indescribable pain filled her.

She once again found herself staring into emotionless black eyes as Sasuke studied her questioning, pain-filled gaze, "Yup, you're still the same, Sakura. Even after seeing the destruction I caused, after seeing me kill your friends, and after everything I did, you still so readily kiss me. Why?"

Sakura gave him a small smile as blood trailed down her lips, though a great deal more gushed out of her stomach, "Because...I don't know what to do anymore. I'm scared and confused and I just want things to go back to normal, Sasuke. I just want all of this to end. I want N-Naruto to be safe from danger...I want...I don't want _this_ anymore."

She looked down hesitantly, her body able to slightly move now. She could see Sasuke's hand going through her stomach, sparks from the Chidori still traveling around his arm, "I'm tired of doing these things...I just wanted to feel as though things weren't different, but I guess you broke that illusion, too."

Her eyes slowly drifted shut, her glazed green eyes focused on him before they fully closed. In them, he could see her regret, her sadness, her love, and her hatred. But, most of all, he could see her forgiveness.

_Maybe if I hadn't been so slow to realize what was going on around me...maybe I could have been some help in stopping you, Sasuke. I will always forgive you...because I can't hate you, even if I don't love you_. Sakura's eyes closed as a blurred Sasuke stood over her. _Still, I wish that I could have had the strength to save you...I wish I hadn't been so weak._

* * *

Naruto gaped at the sight in front of him: a tattered Konoha. Something to his right caught his attention and that was when his eyes began to water.

_Tsunade-baa-chan! Who? Why?_

Naruto wanted to run over to her but he was intercepted by a few ANBU, "HEY! I'm trying to get to Tsunade-baa-chan! I got to save her! Why aren't any of the medics healing her anyway?"

None of the ANBU said a word, only staring at him. Naruto glared into their masks. _This is why I hate masks; you can't tell what they're thinking. _He growled and tried to move toward Tsunade again, this time, one of the ANBU spoke. How he wished the ANBU could have stayed quiet.

"Tsunade-sama is dead."

Naruto froze, almost tripping from the shock. The ANBU once again moved to stand in front of him. The same ANBU, the one wearing the cat mask, spoke again, "Tsunade-sama also chose a successor before her death."

Naruto looked at them with confusion in his eyes. Why were they telling him this?

"She chose you, Uzumaki Naruto, as the next Hokage of Konohagakure. You are the sixth Hokage as of now."

Naruto felt his breath leave him. He had always dreamed of becoming the Hokage, but not in this way. Tsunade was supposed to give him the hat and tell him that he had better install some casinos otherwise she just might leave again. Sakura was supposed to hug him and say that he finally got what he wanted so he could stop repeating it all the time. Kakashi should be there with his face in his book, telling him he's proud of the knucklehead. Everyone else, too, they were supposed to congratulate him!

This was not how it was supposed to be. Not in the middle of a war. Not with Tsunade dead.

_Where is everyone else? _Naruto felt his eyes widen even more, "Where's Kakashi?"

The ANBU spared each other a quick glance and then answered, "Hatake Kakashi is now a K.I.A."

"Sai?"

"K.I.A."

"Sakura...?"

"Haruno Sakura is K.I.A. as well."

K.I.A.: killed in action. _They're dead._

That sentence hit Naruto harder than anything else could. Without another word, Naruto took off. He had to find them. He had to find the members of his beloved Team Seven.

* * *

Sasuke flicked his sword to the side to throw off the still-fresh blood. Satisfied with its state, he sheathed it and began walking away. This was all too pathetic. What was he even doing here, wasting his time with this?

None of it: killing his classmates, killing his teammates-none of it was giving him the same excitement that killing Danzo had. With Danzo, at least, it had just felt so right. It had felt so good to feel and see the spilt blood of the vile person who ordered Itachi to off his clan. Sasuke had never experienced such excitement before and, to be honest, he wanted more of it. He wasn't getting it, though. Seeing them, seeing everyone he used to work with only left him angry and empty. None of this was leaving him feeling accomplished.

_Maybe..._

He turned his head; from where he stood, he could make out the pink of Sakura's hair. If he turned his head to the right, he could see Kakashi's burned remains. A little bit off to the left of him was Hinata's body. Sai's was closer to Sakura's but still not too close. Their deaths did not make him feel like he was finally avenging his clan. Regardless, Sasuke was sure of one thing: that reason had to do with Naruto.

He hadn't come across Naruto yet and that was bothering him. Where was his former friend when he decided to go after Kakashi? Where was he when the knife went through Sai? Where was he when Sakura died with a small, regretful smile? Where was Uzumaki Naruto then?

His eyes widened as he suddenly sensed Naruto behind him. Turning on the heel of his foot, he saw the flash of Naruto's fist, "YOU BASTARD!"

Hitting the ground painfully, Naruto was on him before he could even attempt to stand. _Speak of him and he will show..._

Naruto hit him, fist after fist, not wanting to give even the smallest opening. Swiftly he pulled back his right hand, forming the Rasengan and, without missing a beat, thrust his hand toward Sasuke's heart. Just as it made contact, Sasuke did something unexpected. His body turned dark and broke apart into birds.

Naruto clenched his teeth, his fists shaking as he growled, "Where are you, Sasuke? Huh? Where the heck are you hiding?"

He released a roar of pain as electricity tore through him. Glancing to his side, he saw Sasuke. The damn bastard was actually smirking at him, after everything he did! The piercing ring of birds filled Naruto's ears as he pushed Sasuke away and turned toward him. Sasuke already had the next Chidori ready. Naruto waited for Sasuke to run closer before jumping away. As soon as Sasuke hit the area where he once stood, dust surrounded them and birds flew high into the sky, wanting to distance themselves from the danger that was taking place.

Naruto suddenly jerked forward as pain filled his entire being. He choked on his own blood as he looked down at his abdomen. A familiar pale hand surrounded by electricity had plunged into his stomach.

_How? _Naruto bit into his lip as the pain continued to tear through him. His lip bled as he blinked; the world around him broke apart and revealed itself. _W-when had Sasuke put me in a genjutsu?_

Quickly looking around, one thing was obvious: he _had_ punched the Uchiha and used the Rasengan on Sasuke's clone as the crater that formed remained. So when did Sasuke have the chance to use his Sharingan? Had Sasuke even used the Sharingan?

Suddenly, the Uchiha jumped in front of him and quickly sent a kick in his direction. Acting fast, Naruto grabbed Sasuke's leg and threw him into tree. Instead of crashing into the tree, as Naruto had intended, the missing-nin twisted himself in the air and landed on the ground, his knees bent and hands out at his sides in an attempt to slow himself. He once again stood and charged another Chidori.

The time to fight had come.

.0.

Naruto finally let out the first of many tears as he lay on the rocky terrain that was once Konoha. He was just so tired and all he wanted was to sleep-not reminisce about things that were too overwhelming. Sleep: good, memories: bad.

However, even this simple logic was failing him. Every time he closed his eyes, he could see their faces, clearer and closer. Sometimes he could swear that he could feel their warmth and comfort. Now he was beginning to hate sleep too, which was bad. He really needed to sleep.

He felt so weak. So very, very weak.

.0.

Biting his lip to the point of making it bleed, Naruto trembled where he stood. He had two more people to add to his list of those he didn't save. His list of regrets.

_Ma and Pa_

Those two had only wanted to help and, because he didn't react fast enough, they were dead now, as well. Thanks to Sasuke, that damned murderer-the person he couldn't stop calling his best friend, they, too, were added to the long list of people that he failed to rescue.

Naruto's hair shadowed his eyes as they watered.

_Why...Why is he doing this?_ _No_, Naruto shook his head slightly; I _know why he's here right now...__he's __getting revenge...for Itachi. How ironic...how this all started and now is ending._

Glaring at Sasuke through his hair, he was suddenly reminded of his battle against Pein.

.0.

"Just what do you want? Why are you doing all of this!"

"Why, you ask?" Pein blinked, "Things always happen without warning and the reason becomes apparent afterward."

.0.

"My goal was something even Jiraiya-sensei couldn't achieve. As I mentioned earlier...creating peace and bringing about justice."

"Justice? Peace? You've got to be kidding me...You've got to be fricking kidding me!" He didn't care that he was yelling at the person who had him trapped-this guy had just gone and pissed him off! "My master! My sensei! My friends! My village!"

Clawing the ground, Naruto stared pain right in the eyes, "After everything you've done, don't you dare talk about peace and justice!"

.0.

"I want to kill you and bring peace to the ninja world!"

"That is heroic indeed. However..." moving to stand across from Naruto, he spoke once more, "My family, my friends, my village...they suffered the same fate as this village, by you Konoha ninja. How is it fair to only allow you people to preach about peace and justice? "

"What are you talking about?"

"Our little nation and its villages became the battlefields for the great nation's war and each time our nation was ravaged and laid to waste. After all the fighting subsided, things stabilized in the great nation and our little nation was left to suffer the pain and misery."

Naruto's glare softened and he looked away. He hadn't known this...

"You and I seek the same thing. We are merely trying to establish the peace that Jiraiya-sensei so desired...you and I are not that different at all. We each act according to our own sense of justice..." Pein slightly tilted his head, "The justice I delivered to Konoha is no different then what you are trying to do to me. The pain of losing someone dear is the same and both of us know that pain all too well."

"You have your justice...and I have mine. We are but men, drawn to act in the name of revenge we deem to be 'justice'," Pein stepped closer to Naruto, "But when we call out vengeance 'justice', it only breeds more revenge..."

Naruto's eyes widened in shock.

"...forging the first link in the chains of hatred. So how would you confront this hatred, in order to create peace?"

Naruto remained silent

"I want to hear your answer."

Naruto squeezed his eyes shut before slowly opened them, "I don't have an answer...to something like that."

"...Love breeds sacrifice...which in turn breeds hatred."

.0.

Looking at Sasuke, now, he was a prime example of Pein's-or really, Nagato's-views on justice and vengeance. The Uchiha Clan's prodigal heir wanted to protect Konoha because he loved it, so Itachi killed his own family to stop a war-never telling Sasuke the real reason he did it. Sasuke wanted revenge. When the opportunity showed itself, he killed Itachi, not only for himself but also for their fallen clan. It was then that Madara told him the truth. Sasuke hated himself and Konoha...he wanted justice for Itachi's sacrifice. He destroyed Konoha and its people. Sasuke got his revenge and justice...

Now it was Naruto's turn. Now, _he_ wanted to kill Sasuke to avenge the people of Konoha even if he did promise Nagato that he would put a stop to the curse known as hatred...even if he said he would bring peace...

He just couldn't let Sasuke walk away after everything he did! Naruto quickly jumped away as Sasuke appeared behind him, ready to send his sword through Naruto.

_Dammit now isn't the time to think about this!_

Glaring at him, Sasuke steadily gripped his sword and rushed toward Naruto once more. He wasn't sure if Naruto was losing focus because he was tired or if he thought Sasuke a weak enemy. Either way, his reasoning was angering him.

Every single hit, punch, or jutsu he used-none of it made him feel any better. Nothing made him feel as though Itachi was being avenged for all of his sacrifices. His brother deserved that vengeance-for the things the Council forced him to do. Yet, nothing Sasuke did made him feel as though he was doing his brother any justice.

Quickly forming the desired hand seals, Sasuke inhaled deeply before quickly letting it out. One large flame released from his mouth, Katon: Goryuka no Jutsu. Sasuke watched with a smirk as it precisely hit Naruto. The blonde screamed as the flame hit his back.

As Naruto hit the ground, he grabbed onto his shoulder blade, adding pressure in hopes that the pain would subside. Over his harsh breathing and whimpers of pain, he could still hear the soft, almost undetectable moves of Sasuke closing in on him. The attack didn't leave him many options but there was one that was full proof. Or at least good enough until he came up with something else.

Sage Mode.

Sasuke threw his sword with great precision. He released a small growl as he watched Naruto, in his weakened state, dodge the blade of his Kusanagi. When he studied his former best friend, his eyes widened with shock. He was not looking into the azure eyes of Naruto or the blood-red eyes of the kyuubi. Instead, he was staring into a pair of bright gold amphibian eyes. Eyes of a Sage.

Apparently, Naruto wasn't as weak as Sasuke had thought.

.0.

Naruto let out a shaky sigh as he painfully turned his head away from the sky and toward the body not too far from his own.

"Sas...uke..." Naruto licked his dry lips and tried to swallow, but he couldn't. _You damn teme...I can't even swallow thanks to you..._

Naruto closed his eyes before he actually had to look at the body of his best friend and greatest enemy. It was just too painful to see Sasuke in such a mutilated state, whether or not he deserved it.

_It's...a nice night..._ Naruto sighed as his vision blurred again. This time, darkness was creeping into his periphery.

_Sasuke...I'm sorry. I just wish none of this had happened...then everyone would have been happy. But even I know that there always has to be pain for there to be peace. Maybe in our next life, we won't have to go through this much pain, eh Sasuke?_

.0.

"We can't keep doing this forever, Sasuke!" Naruto trembled as he gripped onto the wall beside him. "We're both tired. We're both almost out of chakra. Just stop! Stop fighting already!"

Across from him, Sasuke leaned on the wall, glaring at Naruto, "Tell me, Naruto, what am I supposed to do if I stop now? I don't have a future in the village after everything I've done. I'm an international criminal. Do you really think there's anything for me anymore?"

Sasuke moved away from the wall and a bit closer to Naruto, "The moment I left Konoha, my future ended."

Naruto clenched his fists and growled out, "SHUT UP! That's a lie! I refuse to believe that there's nothing left for you!"

Sasuke vanished from his spot and appeared in front of Naruto, quickly punching him and sending him to the ground. Naruto clenched his teeth as he hit the earth. He was getting tired, but if he could hold on for just a bit longer, then everything would be okay.

Slightly panting as he stood, Naruto closed his eyes and concentrated. Sasuke had been able to push him out of Sage Mode the first time but, luckily, he had two clones collecting energy. Thanks to Sasuke, Naruto was going to be down to one clone, but that wasn't necessarily a bad thing. He just had to be careful, as Sasuke had always been good with strategizing his attacks. From the way things were going, it seemed the Uchiha hadn't changed in that respect.

.0.

Naruto breathed deeply, his eyes slowly closing. It was almost time. An explosion to his right caught his attention. He smiled when he spotted Shikamaru and Tenten working together to stop a couple more Zetsu clones from reaching him. Looking around, he could see the remaining Konoha-nin. The ones who had been strong enough to survive.

Neji, Shino, Kiba, Ino, Karin. Even Gaara and his siblings were still standing. Still fighting.

_All of this fighting...all of it...for me? It's stupid..._

Naruto closed his eyes. A smile on his lips. _They all have the Will of Fire, so it's only obvious why they aren't giving up. Even now._

.0.

Opening his eyes, he glared at Sasuke. It would seem he was going to have to listen to Gaara.

_As Sasuke's friend, you know what you have to do..._

He knew that he, Uzumaki Naruto, had to kill his best friend, Uchiha Sasuke.

He lifted his head to stare at Sasuke. The latter was standing there, staring back at him through his Sharingan. The wind picked up, rustling the trees around them. Other than that, there was no sound. The animals had long since run away, the people—both shinobi and civilian—were far from the action. It was simply them: Naruto and Sasuke

Best friends. Rivals. Enemies.

Just the two of them.

Naruto cursed as Sasuke prepared another set of hand seals. He had thought for sure that Sasuke was out of chakra. There was only one clone remaining. Just as Naruto was about to jump away from what he was sure was going to be a strong jutsu, Sasuke did the unexpected: he fired six fireballs straight toward the sky. Naruto could only watch in shock as clouds began to slowly form.

Sasuke smirked at Naruto's confusion. Of course Naruto didn't know what he was doing and he, himself, had only just thought of it. Sasuke had been fully prepared to aim each of his Katons at Naruto, but before he let them out, he remembered his fight with Itachi. He was positive that he could beat Naruto with his almost-forgotten technique. After all, did Naruto have a jutsu that was faster and more powerful than the Amaterasu? He sincerely doubted it.

The sound of rushing wind brought his attention back to Naruto. He was going to use the Rasengan; fine, it couldn't hurt to use his Chidori once more before he used _that_technique. They rushed toward one another, both intending to stop the other. As they neared, they pushed their left hands forward.

Closer...

Closer...

"Rasengan!"

"Chidori!"

A bright light surrounded them both.

.0.

Naruto opened his eyes. In front of him was only darkness; a never-ending abyss. Something shuffled behind him, but he didn't need to turn around. He knew who it was.

"I don't want to do this anymore...I want it all to stop, Sasuke."

Sasuke responded softly, "It's too late to stop anything."

Naruto clenched his fists, "I DON'T CARE! I JUST WANT IT ALL TO STOP! I DON'T WANT TO FIGHT ANYMORE!" He turned around to face Sasuke, "IM SICK OF IT! I...I just want it to end...I'm tired of doing this."

Silence surrounded them. Sasuke stared at Naruto before letting his eyes travel toward the ground. Suddenly, he began to chuckle, "Sakura...she told me she was tired, too...that she didn't want to do this anymore, either," Sasuke met Naruto's shocked look, "But I am an avenger and I have to make sure Itachi gets his retribution."

Naruto closed his eyes and sighed, "I understand you now, Sasuke...and I can see that you were right in saying that you walk a different path than the rest of us." He softly shook his head and ran his hand through his hair, "Even though I had the chance to get revenge on the person who killed Jiraiya, I couldn't bring myself to do it..." he snickered, "I guess I'm just not fit to be an avenger."

Sasuke smirked before losing all emotion on his face, "...We have to finish our fight..."

Naruto solemnly nodded before a grin stretched across hisfeatures, "ALL RIGHT, BUT LET'S MAKE OUR LAST JUTSU THE BEST ONES! EH, SASUKE?"

Sasuke said nothing, closing his eyes as a bright white light surrounded them. Just before everything faded, he heard Naruto's last words: "I guess this is the end of our rivalry...I'll make sure to keep my promise to you, Sasuke!"

.0.

Naruto coughed as he pushed himself back up. The blast from both attacks had sent them flying apart. He grunted in pain as rain pelted against his wounds, mixing with his fresh blood. Looking at Sasuke from the corner of his eye, he saw the Uchiha smirking as he gazed at the sky. Sasuke lifted his arm, allowing chakra and lighting to flow through it. Naruto took that as his signal and allowed his last clone to pop out of existence, breathing deeply as power flooded through his body. As Sasuke's lightning grew brighter, Naruto began forming his strongest and fastest technique, the Rasenshuriken.

A loud bell-like screech rang out and a deafening roar was unleashed. Sasuke stared at Naruto's hand with his Sharingan as Naruto formed his final technique.

_Shape and nature transformation huh?_ That move must be strong, but he doubted it could be faster than his Kirin. He looked at the large dragon behind him and his smirk grew wider.

"This is it for you, Sasuke! Futon: Rasenshuriken!" Naruto yelled.

Sasuke motioned the dragon forward and quickly jumped in the air before Naruto's jutsu could touch him. He hadn't however, anticipated its expansion. His scream wasn't heard over the loud bell-like screech that the jutsu gave off. Naruto hadn't expected Sasuke to be able to control such a strong jutsu, either. He blacked out as the lighting crashed toward him and engulfed his body, making him feel as if he was being roasted alive.

.0.

Naruto's eyes snapped open as the memories of his last fight with Sasuke filled his mind. As he glanced around, he could see battles from the war still going on. This time, however, the shinobi were no longer fighting to keep him safe, but to keep the Akatsuki from his dying body.

Better for the Akatsuki not to have a complete collection of bijuu.

He let out a tired and content sigh as his vision began to blur and darken. It was finally time to go and not even the weak attempts from the kyuubi could help him right now. A shooting star passed by him before he could close his eyes. Naruto followed its movements before it completely vanished.

_I wish, somehow, all of this could have been different. I wish it could have been better, _Naruto smiled. _At least I kept my promise to you, Sasuke. I would die along with you. There would be no hero or murderer..._

With that last thought, Naruto let his eyes close and he let go of everything.

* * *

Suddenly, time stopped. Nothing made a sound or moved an inch. The very color of things seemed to have changed to a duller hue. Just as quickly as time had stopped, it began to move again. Though, it was not moving forward, instead drifting backward...

Team Seven.

Konohagakure.

The Shinobi Nations.

Everyone. Each of their lives went backward, back to the day when the future Rokudaime was born. The day of the Kyuubi attack or, more precisely, a few hours before the kyuubi broke free from its seal.

Time stopped once more...this is where it will begin: the beginning of that fateful day.

This time, though, fate decided to give Uzumaki Naruto his wish. He would still have to put effort into making his wish happen, but fate would help him. Help in the form of a few people that were just like him. People that went through the same pain.

But most of all, Naruto would be able to help Sasuke with the help of one person in particular.

Time restarted...but this time, with a twist.

...With alterations...

* * *

Thank you to Persephonae for beta-ing!

P.S.

This is the new chapter two, chapter three will be up soon.

Updated on December 21, 2010


	3. Initial Changes

**.**

**.**

**.**

**Chapter Three**

_Initial Changes_

Grey eyes stared blankly at the ceiling above them. In the whites of the eyes, a blackness swept around like smoke. The smoke drew closer to the grey irises the dreamer fell deeper into her dreams...into past premonitions.

.0.

"_It doesn't work that way." __The voice was sinister._

_With one quick hand seal, the speaker's neck grew long and serpent-like as his incisors became fangs. In just a short two seconds, his elongated fangs sank into flesh. __Grey __eyes __of the dreamer watched as __the __fangs __retracted __themselves, a dark tomoe mark being the only indication of their injury. Hearing a groan, __dark __eyes trailed away from the strange mark to the face of the victim._

_Who was this boy?_

"_Sasuke-kun!" someone screamed._

_Grey eyes widened __as she finally realized who she was staring at. But why Sasuke?_

_Sasuke twitched as the fangs withdrew themselves. Soon, only his groans and muffled screams of pain were heard._

"_What did you do to Sasuke-kun?"__Her eyes __left __Sasuke's __pained face to look at the one who continued to scream. Again, she was shocked at who she saw. Sakura-chan?_

"_I gave him a farewell gift." With that last sentence, the pale man left and, with his departure, the world began to darken._

_Grey eyes darted around, looking for clues-for anything about the situation. After all, this wasn't the first time she had these types of dreams, __though most of the time she __never remembered __them upon waking._

_One last sentence rang through the darkness:_"_Sasuke-kun will seek me. He will seek me for power."_

.0.

The smoky blackness from the grey irises dispersed as the lids slowly closed. Her breathing also evened out as a peaceful silence befell the room.

"Is that Sasuke-kun?" Many excited whispers broke the silence. Her eyes snapped open. "Let's go follow"

"Yeah, oh, I hope he likes my hair!" Grey eyes narrowed.

"It's gotten really long hasn't it?" Pale fingers twitched.

"Yup! I grew it out just for him!" A scoff escaped her lips.

As the excited whispering and giggles grew louder, the scowl on Kagome's lips grew more prominent. Who likes listening to a bunch of girls swooning over the biggest jerk on the world anyway? Not her, that's for sure!

But does she ever get what she wants when it concerns Uchiha-damn-Sasuke? NO!

As another fit of laughter echoed throughout her room, she finally had enough. With a violent sneer, Kagome tore off her covers, stomped over to her window, and threw open her curtains. The sight that met her had her scowling even more.

Living on the highest floor in her apartment, Kagome could see a lot of things. Right now, however, she really didn't want to see _this:_ Uchiha Sasuke calmly walking down the street, not even bothering to look at the giggling girls behind him. To Kagome though, the entire situation was vexing.

The fan girls annoyed her, the sun that was currently in her eyes annoyed her, but most importantly, Uchiha Sasuke annoyed her. It wasn't just the fan girls following him that bothered her, though that was a large part of the reason she was fuming—what self-respecting girl follows a guy around? No, the thing that bothered her the most about Uchiha Sasuke was that he was arrogant and vain!

One time, one time she had tried to be nice and befriend the loathing Uchiha and what had he done? He not only insulted her very nature and pride but he also called her an annoying fan girl!

_Her!_

Everyone, including Sasuke Uchiha's fan girls, knew she hated them. Why? For the simple reason that she had a couple fan boys and they, by themselves, were the most annoying thing that ever existed. Kiba just wouldn't learn that no meant no. Nevertheless, that wasn't the point right now!

Fan girls giggling outside her apartment and waking her up at an ungodly hour was the problem!

For a second, Kagome looked over the girls following him. She smiled when she noticed two people weren't there: Sakura Haruno and Ino Yamanaka. Kagome wasn't close friends with them, but she was close enough to decide that she didn't want them to do anything stupid or something that may hurt their reputation. Following Uchiha Sasuke around? Worst thing for them to do! Of course, thanks to Kagome's best friend, Sango Keikan, Kagome didn't have to worry about them following the stoic emotionless bastard.

Keikan Sango was a mean slave driver and a violent, expressive person that nobody wants on his or her bad side. If you get her on your good side, though, oh, _then_ Sango is one of the most generous, helpful people ever. How Kagome came to be her friend was a mystery in itself, but that was a thought for a later date.

Sango would never allow two of her friends to be fan girls! That was just a no-no in Sango's Big Book of Wrongs. Being a fan girl meant following the boy's lead and doing whatever he wanted, even if you didn't want to. Sango was all about girls having their independence and being able to do anything a guy could do. So having a girl follow a guy so blindly, well, that was just plain wrong to her. Sango made sure to snap Sakura and Ino out of that state the moment they started looking at Sasuke in that light.

Kagome could empathize with them, despite never liking Uchiha Sasuke. No, never him. Kagome liked his best friend: Namikaze Naruto. She could still remember when she first met him, when her crush on him started. It had certainly been a nice first meeting unlike that with the Uchiha. Of course, Kagome could also remember what Sango did when she learned of Kagome liking a boy. Oh, Kagome never wanted a repeat of Sango's lesson.

Just thinking about it, Kagome rubbed her bottom as she remembered the excruciating pain she had been in. She had been unable to sit for days!

Seeing Sasuke and the girls turn around the corner, Kagome closed her curtains. Before she could turn back to her bed, ice water poured over her, dampening her sleepwear and officially waking her up as she gasped in shock. Taking deep breaths in order to keep warm, Kagome moved her clinging bangs away from her eyes and glared at the person responsible for this. Her sibling, of course.

"Bankotsu-nii," she hissed through gritted teeth, "Is there a reason you poured ice water on me?"

Bankotsu clenched his stomach, chuckles still escaping his mouth every now and then. Eventually, he caught his breath and spoke with smugness, "I don't even have a good lie as to why I did that, but it was hilarious!" He dodged a punch and walked to her bedroom door, "That reminds me, have fun with your little graduation. Later we'll take you to get a congratulatory dinner."

He kissed her forehead when she walked over to him and left her to get ready. Kagome stared at the door in anger for a few more seconds before finally listening to his advice. Kagome entered her shower and, with the help of scentless shampoo, conditioner, and body wash, she quickly finished her cleansing. Grabbing her undergarments and putting them on while walking to her closet, she chose her outfit.

She slipped on her tight, dark red shorts and a black halter-top. Over that, she put on a white kimono style shirt that covered most of her shorts and tied it together with a thick, wide red obi. On the back of her shirt was her clan symbol, the kanji for "seven", in a thick black ring to represent the old Band of Seven. After the short-sleeved shirt, Kagome put mesh guard gloves on each hand, the right one extending past her elbow. She also put a mesh guard on her right leg. On her left leg, she tied her kunai pouch, her hip pouch going on next. Finally, around her forehead, she tied her blue hitai-ate.

Kagome spared herself one moment to look in the mirror and grin happily. She looked just like her idol: Namikaze Kushina. Or at least, she resembled her in outfit. Kagome shrugged nonchalantly and ran out of her room. She quickly put her wavy hair in a low ponytail, put on her shinobi sandals and muttered a quick "bye" to her brother. As she ran through the streets of Konoha, Kagome passed her other "brothers". She didn't stop, despite the fact that she was going to be early; she only waved as they called out to her.

She grinned as the Academy drew closer to her. Just as she entered the building, a loud trampling noise stopped her. Turning around to look at what it was, Kagome screamed and ran as Ino and Sakura raced each other into the Academy, neither taking notice of the scared kunoichi in front of them.

* * *

Sasuke intertwined his fingers and leaned back in his chair as Iruka finally entered the classroom, silencing everyone's chatter. He quickly glanced at the girl in front of him: her black locks were covering her face, but he could see her neck, which was still red. He wasn't sure if it was from anger or embarrassment, but he did know that this little incident was something he could bug her about. Which he would.

It wasn't like him to bother people, girls especially, but Kagome was just one of those people that you couldn't help but poke fun at. Maybe that's why she didn't like him. Or maybe it had something to do with _that_ day. Sasuke mentally shrugged and shoved his thoughts away. All of those thoughts were useless to him.

He dropped his elbows on his desk and rested his chin on his palms. Once in a good position, Sasuke turned his eyes toward the window and blocked out Iruka's rambling. It wasn't that he didn't like Iruka, because he would admit that he did, on some level, acknowledge the man as someone both skilled and kind. But it was Naruto that Iruka got along with better, not him.

_Naruto_.

Sasuke's eyes briefly left the window for a second to look at the excited boy next to him. Naruto was literally bouncing in his seat; he obviously couldn't wait to be assigned his team and go on a mission. Sasuke should know as Naruto wouldn't shut up about it. As if sensing his gaze, Naruto stopped his fidgeting to look at him curiously. Sasuke raised a brow. Naruto grinned.

"Tch. Dobe."

Naruto just grinned brighter, "You know you're excited to see if we're gonna be on the same team! Just admit it, teme!"

"Hn."

Naruto snickered, but turned back to Iruka. Sasuke's focus returned to the window.

How he became friends with Naruto seemed like such a mystery to him, but he knew that when things were simpler back then, he and Naruto had been a lot alike. He had definitely smiled and laughed more.

Sasuke forced himself out of those thoughts, and, not a second later, something caught his attention. Kagome was signaling him to look on the ground. With a weary look, he dropped his pencil in order to not look suspicious, and bent down to look under the table. Kagome's leg slid a small paper toward him. Once it was close enough, Sasuke grabbed it and sat upright. He took a quick look around to make sure nobody had noticed the exchange. When was satisfied, he glanced at Kagome. She had gone back to ignoring him.

Opening the paper, Sasuke blinked in surprise. The note itself was simple, being only two words. However, those two words were something that she had never told him before: _Thank you._

He knew what she was referencing, but she really didn't have to thank him, considering he was planning on making fun of her later. Though, she didn't know that. Still, this was...unexpected. Sure, he had made Naruto stop yelling about Kagome and her unwanted kiss with Shino, but he didn't do it for _her_. He had only done it because Naruto had been yelling directly into _his_ ear and he had just wanted the dobe to _shut up_ before he went deaf. He did like to hear after all.

"Now, Team Seven..."

His brow creased. Still, this had to be the nicest thing she ever said to him, even if she only wrote it.

Muttering a soft 'hn', he crumpled the note and stuffed it in his pocket. Iruka had mentioned Naruto's name so it was time to pay attention.

* * *

_Damn idiot! _Kagome twitched when she heard him crumple the small paper. _He can't even properly accept a thank you! _Kagome forced away her anger and focused on Iruka when she heard Naruto's name.

"Namikaze Naruto, Haruno Sakura..."

Kagome glanced at the pink-haired girl. Sakura just sat there with a stupefied look. Other than that, she made no outward expression of either dislike or happiness. Kagome couldn't help the small amount of jealousy directed toward her; she wanted to be on Naruto-kun's team...

"...and lastly," Kagome bit her lip. This was it. This was her last chance to be on Naruto's team! "Uchiha Sasuke. Next, Team Eight."

Kagome hung her head low and sighed, "Of course..." She never did have good luck when it came to things like this. She glanced once more at Naruto, only to see Sakura flash her a victory sign. A rain cloud appeared over her head as she sulked.

"...and Akimichi Choji. Now the last three people."

Kagome slightly perked up. The only three people whose name weren't called were hers, Sango's, and Miroku's. That wouldn't be so bad. However, she was floored by Iruka's next words.

"While normally we would have paired the last three together into your own team, the Hokage has decided to try an experiment of sorts. You three, separated into another team, will make the first four-cell teams."

Everyone stared at Iruka in shock.

"Now, Souryo Miroku will be place on Team Eight, Keikan Sango will go with Team Ten, and Saiketsu Kagome will be placed with Team Seven. Those are your teams! Now, you will all go on a small lunch break and then come back here to meet your senseis."

Each student stood as Iruka dismissed them.

* * *

She released a tired sigh once the door to her office closed. Squeezing the bridge of her nose, she looked at the last person in her office.

"Hatake Kakashi."

"Hokage-sama?"

Kushina scowled but let it go. Kakashi seemed to like the idea of bugging her whenever he could and he knew that calling her "Hokage-sama" annoyed her, especially when the person doing it was someone close to her. Her face turned serious as she remembered why she kept him.

"I hope this doesn't bother you too much, but you can't let personal problems interfere with this. Do you understand?"

Kakashi closed his eyes for a moment, "I understand."

"Good. Are you also prepared for your mission while taking care of these genin?" Kakashi nodded. "Alright then, you are dismissed, Kakashi."

"Hai, Kushina-sama." Kakashi disappeared in a swirl of leaves.

With another sigh, Kushina stood and headed out the door. It was times like these that she decided she hated being Hokage. Having to talk to the Council was hell, plus the paperwork? Oh boy! Sure, her dream had always been to become the first female Hokage, but some things were just too much, the Council being one of those things. This was her job, though, and she had to carry it out to its fullest. If only Hiruzen hadn't asked her to be his replacement last year.

One year. One full year of being Hokage.

It wasn't as great of a job as many thought.

Kushina pursed her lips as she approached the door to the Council's meeting room. Now that Hiruzen was no longer Hokage, he was made a Council member with his old teammates, just as he had been back when Minato was Hokage.

In only a few minutes, Kushina found herself outside of the meeting room.

She had a feeling she knew exactly what those two grouchy Council members, Homura and Koharu, would bring up: Sasuke and Naruto. Those two were always on their minds. Why? Who knew, but Kushina never heard the end of it from Homura and Koharu. And now that she put Sasuke and Naruto on the same team, the Council, besides Hiruzen, was going to have a fit. After all, why would they like the idea of their only remaining Uchiha, who possessed the Sharingan, with the Kyuubi container?

Kushina bit her lip to stop the scowl from forming. She opened the door.

"It's about time you arrived, Kushina," said Koharu with a stern expression on her aged face.

"I apologize; the meeting went on longer than expected." She stepped into the room and took the seat across from her three Council members.

"Well, let's start discussing, then," Hiruzen said while rubbing his stiff shoulders.

She nodded, "What was bothering you three about my order with Team Seven? They are a balanced team aren't they?" Her violet eyes passed across each of their faces. Only Hiruzen looked upset.

Koharu and Homura nodded. Homura was the first to speak, "That isn't what's bothering us, Kushina." Homura narrowed his eyes, "The problem is the Saiketsu girl."

"Saiketsu Kagome? Is there a reason for this dislike?"

That was shocking. She was sure that the problem was going to be Naruto and Sasuke, but, instead, it was actually Kagome. Why? Kushina honestly wasn't sure what to make of this. Admittedly, when she had first meet Kagome, especially with her being friends with Naruto, she had initially been wary of the young Saiketsu heir. But the girl had proven herself worthy of bearing the Konoha leaf symbol. Bearing that symbol meant that Konoha trusted you and that trust was mutual.

So why would the Council be wary of the girl?

"She is a Saiketsu! That is reason enough," Koharu scowled. Mentally, so did Kushina. but not for the same reasons. "We should never have even allowed those mercenaries into our village and now you are putting one of them with two of most important genin! You are giving them too much, Kushina."

She glared at them, knowing full well that that little comment had been an insult to her title as Hokage. For now, she said nothing but glared her discontent. "I know what I am doing. I understand your wariness with the older Saiketsus but we can trust Saiketsu Kagome, I-"

"How sure are you, Kushina?" Homura's voice was stern, the question followed by a hard look. "We cannot just let one of those...barbarians run loose around here. You have made some risky judgments, and we have stayed with you alongside each of them, but we will not stand to see Naruto and Sasuke corrupted by that girl."

Kushina balled her hands into fists and gave them a glare. Seeing it, they all stiffened, even Hiruzen who had not said a word, "You both will do well to remember that I am the Hokage, not you. My decisions are not made on a whim; I think of every possible thing that may go wrong. I know what I am doing concerning Saiketsu Kagome."

She stood, "Now if you excuse me, I need to go back to my duties as Hokage."

She made sure to give Hiruzen a hard look because, despite the fact that he had not said a word, he had stayed silent while his comrades criticized her and her decisions. That was enough of an answer for her.

He had chosen their side once again.

* * *

"Uchiha, you bastard!"

Naruto grinned as he walked next to the arguing Sasuke and Kagome. Sometimes he wondered if they ever stopped! Every day they were at each others' throats. The one time he had dared to make a joke about them secretly being in love, and their arguing all being an act, both of them had, for once, come to a mutual agreement, both punching him. Kagome had given him a noticeably softer hit then Sasuke. Stupid Sasuke-teme hadn't needed to hit him so hard on the jaw. Naruto absent-mindedly rubbed his jaw at the memory.

"What's wrong, Saiketsu? Can't handle the truth?" Sasuke's smirk widened as Kagome's face reddened with both anger and embarrassment.

Why the heck was Sasuke doing this now? And in front of their new teammates too! "Shut it, Uchiha!" yelled Kagome.

"Tch. Why should I?"

Kagome grabbed the front of his shirt and brought him close, "Because I thanked you for stopping Naruto. I thought that would show you that I don't want to bring that up ever again!" Kagome whispered through clenched teeth.

Sasuke tilted his head back a little, both ignoring Sakura's attempt to calm them down and Naruto's snickering. Sometimes he wondered what he did that made her so angry with him? He couldn't remember doing anything to her, and it wasn't like it mattered. As long as she kept up her attitude, than so would he. No one was going to insult him and not get something thrown back at them. But maybe he should have stopped while he was ahead...

His smirk widened, a glint entering his onyx eyes. He drew closer to her again, momentarily surprising her. He whispered, "I don't think publicly molesting someone will just go away, Saiketsu."

Kagome froze for a second, but when his words registered, she shoved him away. The image of Sasuke and Naruto in the same position as her came to mind, causing an evil grin to spread across her face, "So I guess that makes you a molester as well. Poor Naruto-kun, having to live with you. Unless...since you were on the bottom of your little k-i-s-s, that must make you the "uke" in your secret relationship with Naruto-kun." Kagome calmly walked away from Sasuke as he stood, still in shock. Even Sakura and Naruto had stopped out of surprise.

Suddenly, a force crashed into from behind and just as she was about to curse the Uchiha, she was surprised to hear a different voice, "TAKE THAT BACK KAGOME-CHAN! ME AND THAT TEME WOULD NEVER DO..." Naruto made a face, "THAT!"

Kagome laughed at his expression before throwing him off her. She quickly ran into the ramen stand that they were heading for. Sakura, who was still shocked from the "uke" joke-and was imagining different scenarios between Sasuke and Naruto-did nothing as Sasuke suddenly looked at her and smirked.

"Sakura." She looked at him in confusion as his smirk grew wider, "Your nose is bleeding"

Sakura "eeped" in embarrassment and quickly ran into the stall with Kagome, pushing Naruto out of the way as he was just entering.

* * *

From his hiding spot, Kakashi smirked in amusement. This new team of genin seemed promising, unlike the other teams that were sent to him. Each of those other teams failed his test because they lacked one thing: teamwork. Thia group wasn't any better but they did have one thing the others didn't: they held potential. If they tried hard enough, this team had the potential to become great.

Perfect even...

Kakashi snorted. A perfect team, that was a funny thought. There was no such thing as a perfect team. There was always a problem. The problem in this team was that the pink-haired girl was obsessed with the Uchiha, who enjoyed getting the Saiketsu riled up. Saiketsu, like the pink-haired was also obsessed, but not with the Uchiha. No, she liked Namikaze, who in turn liked the pink-haired girl. Overall, this team was one big mess of hormones! Hormones were unfortunately the worse of all problems.

The next problem stemmed from the Uchiha and Saiketsu. Since Sakura was friends with Kagome, she would naturally side with her, likewise with Naruto siding with Sasuke. This was going to cause a rift to form should the two ever get into a major fight. The last problem: The Band of Seven, otherwise known as the Saiketsu Clan. That Clan absolutely detested anyone interacting with their heir. Meaning, Kagome and her team were going to have some problems to face eventually.

Honestly, if none of this was settled soon, then the teamwork was going to go down the drain. Still, his new team might actually have a chance at working together, especially if the information he received was correct. According to Kushina and Mikoto, Naruto and Sasuke were self-proclaimed best friends and rivals. They have known each other since birth because both their mothers were friends as well. This was something that Kakashi could definitely work with: both pushing each other and striving to be the best. Yes, this was a good thing.

When he had tried to get more information about Kagome from her brothers, they only threatened him by telling him if she got hurt than they would hurt _him_. Sakura's civilian parents were much more informative regarding the Saiketsu. Apparently, Kagome had moved to Konoha at a young age and met Sakura on the first day of Academy. Both girls got along fairly well and though they, Sakura's parents, didn't like it much, Kagome constantly pushed Sakura to train much like a certain taijiya.

Saiketsu Kagome. Despite what information he retrieved, he really knew nothing about her.

Heck, he had even tried the Hokage, but all she had said was that Naruto and Kagome usually spent time together just to prank people and occasionally Kagome would stop by her office just to talk about girl stuff since she did not have a female relative at home. According to Mikoto, Sasuke and Kagome always fought, despite her repeated attempts to discourage that behavior.

Even if all of the team's relationships were not great, it was at least good enough. Kagome seemed to be friends with Sakura, hated Sasuke, and had a crush on Naruto. Sakura had a crush on Sasuke, was aggressive but friendly toward Naruto, and obviously was friends with Kagome. Naruto seemed to be friends with both girls, though he had a noticeable crush on Sakura and was best friends with Sasuke. As for Sasuke, he seemed to be okay with Sakura being around him, enjoyed messing with Naruto and liked to aggravate Kagome.

So it really only looked like he had to work on Sasuke and Kagome's teamwork and, with the way Kagome cursed Sasuke, it looked like he had a long way to go.

* * *

_Why, oh why did we have to get the sensei that decides to be late? I could be out doing something more productive with my time, not just standing here waiting for an unknown __person, _Sakura rubbed her shoulders.

Sango had found out that she had been neglecting her training and so Sango had taken matters into her own hands. Again. For about three hours, the only thing Sakura had been doing was training. Now she was sore! Her shoulders, especially. Sango had made her carry her large Hiraikotsu around, making her fall throughout the entire three hours she was carrying it. Did Sango care, though? Heck no! Sango just told her to toughen up.

Sakura mentally growled, _If Sango-chan weren't so scary, then I would so tell her off!_

Sakura's inner self put on boxing gloves and punched an imaginary Sango. _**Shannaro! Sango's not that tough! **_With that thought, her sore body pulsed with pain and the imaginary Sango punched inner Sakura, winning their "match".

Sakura sighed, deciding that maybe glaring was better. She gave the door a hard stare, not noticing Kagome sweat dropping at her actions.

An hour later, Sakura stretched her back, bored with glaring at the door when it gave no reaction. Releasing a long yawn, she lazily glanced at her new teammates. She looked at Kagome and then turned back to Naruto. Something distracted her, and, in mid-turn, her gaze snapped back to Kagome. Her eyes widened in terror. She knew about Kagome's perverted ways, heck the girl had tried to drag her along into the men's onsen when they were younger! But, she didn't think Kagome still had that book! Sakura had been fairly positive that she had burned it when Kagome tried to get her to read the filthy novel.

Then again, if the other three times she burned the book and Kagome suddenly had a new one were anything to go by, she really shouldn't be surprised. Still, though, she was glad that Sasuke and Naruto hadn't turned around. She didn't even want to think about how they would react to something like Kagome, their innocent teammate, being a huge pervert.

Suddenly, the door opened making the prank Naruto set fall onto their sensei's head. Naruto pointed and laughed at the man. Sakura turned back to Kagome, whom she had turned away from when the door opened. Kagome was no longer reading her disgusting book. Now, she was staring at this new person with a slightly shocked expression on her face. Sakura creased her brow and looked back at the person who entered the door. Why would this new person shock Kagome? Sakura mentally shrugged her shoulders. She'd find out eventually.

"Well-" Kakashi picked up the fallen eraser before glancing at them, "My first impression of you guys...I hate you." They each gave him a disappointed look but he ignored them and continued, "Meet me on the roof." With that, he poofed away and each of them stood and headed toward the assigned destination, none able to mimic Kakashi's teleportation jutsu.

* * *

"Anyway, I'm going to decide whether you pass or fail tomorrow at Training Ground Seven. Don't forget your ninja equipment and meet at five a.m."

The genin didn't speak, lost in their own thoughts. Kakashi stood from the railing catching their attention, "Now then, meeting over. Oh yeah," he looked them with a serious expression, "Don't eat breakfast; you'll puke."

Once Kakashi left, they sat there in dazed silence. Sasuke was the first one to stand. Walking a few steps, he looked back at them, but only called out to Naruto, "Come on dope, we got to get home."

Naruto's head snapped toward Sasuke, and after a few seconds, finally registered his friend's words, "Right, right!" Naruto quickly stood and ran over to Sasuke, who had started to walk away again, "Bye Sakura-chan, Kagome-chan!"

Both of them raised a hand and waved goodbye.

Sakura looked a Kagome, "Well, I'm going to go, too, 'bye, Kagome-chan"

Kagome hummed and gave her a small nod. Before Sakura walked out, she noticed Kagome still sitting there, just staring at the sky. After staring for a bit, too, Sakura turned away and left.

_What are you thinking about, Kagome? _Kakashi slightly tilted his head in contemplation. Of course he hadn't left; he had hidden himself away from their view and watched their reactions about his news. It hadn't been as amusing as he had expected, but it was interesting none-the-less. He was about to leave when he saw all of his new genin getting up, but he stayed when he noticed Kagome still sitting there, staring at the sky.

Kagome pressed her lips together as she thought about what Kakashi said before he left.

_That last sentence...it was exactly what I heard in one of my old dreams. Kakashi...he...he is the last person in my dreams that I can recognize. I can't really remember them, like the one I had last night. The only thing I remember is Sakura's voice and some type of snake thing...but still...this has to mean that my dreams are true, right? W-what am I supposed to do? I can't just tell somebody. They'd think I was crazy for sure...oh man, why does all the weird stuff happen to me!_

Slowly standing, Kagome walked over to the railing and leaned against it, closing her eyes. She enjoyed the soft breeze as it moved through her hair. Slightly opening her eyes, Kagome looked at the sun; it was starting to set already. Sighing softly, she moved away from the railing with the intent to leave.

Kakashi blinked. She sat out there, thinking for two hours. It reminded him of when he just stood there and looked at Obito's grave. _Saiketsu Kagome...you are a real mystery aren't you?_

He flashed away in a swirl of leaves.

* * *

Naruto scratched his head as he walked beside Sasuke. He hadn't really noticed it, considering the fact that he had been angry with his new sensei and all. He was still berating himself for not noticing this earlier, but Sasuke had been quiet throughout the entire meeting. In fact, Sasuke was still quiet and, while the youngest Uchiha was usually not very verbal, he was never _this_ quiet. All things considered, maybe he was trying to figure Kakashi-sensei out.

Kakashi _was_ the man charged with their lives, after all. Something like that couldn't be taken lightly. Still, it was bothering him that Sasuke was so quiet. Sure, he answered Kakashi's questions and even acted-dare he say it-playful with Kagome, but after that, heck, before that, Sasuke hadn't said a word.

_Maybe Sasuke-teme doesn't like Kakashi-sensei. _He mentally snorted, _Of course, the teme doesn't like anyone who tries to boss him around unless it his mother or mine. Momma's boy!_

Suddenly Sasuke stopped and glared at him, "What did you call me?"

Naruto chuckled, "D-did I say that last sentence out loud? Oops..." He let out another nervous chuckle.

"Dope, don't say idiotic things." Sasuke returned to walking but continued talking, "Besides...you know exactly why I do everything I can for her...for Kushina, too..." His bangs covered his eyes and Naruto lowered his head slightly.

Naruto walked closer to him and put his hand on Sasuke's shoulder, "You know that I don't blame you for that, right?"

Sasuke frowned slightly. Naruto let his hand drop from Sasuke's shoulder. He really doubted his words had any type of effect on Sasuke, but he had to try. He glanced at the dirt path they were walking on.

_Why did this have to happen? Everything could have been so different if this just hadn't happened...I know you, Sasuke, and I know that you think I blame you. I know that you are blaming yourself, but...you couldn't have stopped this even if you tried so...I don't blame you. I just wish you could understand that. I don't blame you and neither does my kaa-san. That thought doesn't even cross our minds. If anything, it's _his _entire fault._

Naruto released a silent sigh. Looking up again, he easily spotted their house approaching. Seeing Mikoto wave at them, he grinned his trademark grin; the one that both Mikoto and his mother said looked just like Minato's.

_At least things aren't all bad..._

* * *

Kakashi shifted around in his apartment. It had been awhile since the Hokage tried to saddle him up with another genin team, but it couldn't have been that long. He let go of his bed covers and stood up from his crouched position by his bed. He scanned around his bedroom again. Where did he put those bells?

Besides finding the bells, he had something else to worry about. The rules for the bell test couldn't be the same anymore. They just wouldn't apply anymore. This time he had four genin, not three. While he could just get another bell, it wouldn't be the same. He refused to change the customary two-bell test.

Maybe...

He smirked. With the knowledge of what he was going to do firmly set in his mind, Kakashi sat on his bed contemplating. There was still one problem.

Where did he put those darn bells?

He narrowed his eyes. There was one place he hadn't looked, but that was because he didn't think they'd be there. Standing, he walked out of his bedroom and into the living room. Moving over to the couch, he lifted it up and looked under it. He sweat dropped.

There, covered in piles of dust, were the two bells. He blinked when he saw the half-eaten apple by the bells.

_Has it really been that long since I cleaned? _With a grimace, he grabbed both the apple and the bells.

Maybe he should clean a bit before sleeping.

* * *

Lets all thank my awesome beta Persephonae for beta-ing!

I cant wait to update the next chapter!

Updated on December 22, 2010


	4. Bell Test

**.**

**.**

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**Chapter Four**

_Bell Test_

Kagome slammed open the door to her apartment. Bankotsu looked over at her with annoyance that quickly changed to surprise, not because of her display of force, but because of her state of being. Kagome was completely drenched in water with mud staining her white shirt. Her left thigh was bandaged but the blood was seeping through and her right leg was also slightly swollen.

"What happened, Kagome?" he headed over to her and put a hand on her shoulder to stop her from walking, "I'm gonna go get Suikotsu to heal you, but first tell me what happened to you!"

Kagome frowned, her bangs covering her eyes, "I do look bad don't I? Actually, I just got back from my genin test."

Bankotsu narrowed his eyes when her shoulders started shaking. Did she fail? He hadn't expected that, and honestly, he wasn't sure if he was pleased or upset at this unexpected situation. His blue orbs turned toward Kagome when he heard chuckling. She was laughing! Why?

Kagome picked her head up and grinned. "I passed! My team passed," she said with excitement lacing her voice. "Oh Bankotsu-nii, that test was really complicated, but eventually we figured it out!"

Kagome limped passed her brother and into the bathroom. He stationed himself outside to hear the rest of her tale.

"Kakashi-sensei is really tricky; he showed us two bells and told us..."

-Flashback-

"Whoever can't get a bell will be tied to the log, will not get lunch, and will watch as everyone else eats."

Each of the genins' stomachs growled in response. Sakura clenched her midsection. _So that's why he said..._

Kagome and Naruto hugged each other in despair.

_...Don't eat breakfast._Sasuke frowned

Looking at Kakashi in distaste, Sakura allowed her gaze to travel to the bells. They were still emitting the soft jingling noise. She contemplated about how she was going to approach Kakashi's test. Sakura curiously watched her sensei as she realized something.

"Wait, why are there only two bells, Sensei? I mean I would get it if there were three bells because someone needs to be tied up but..." her eyebrows scrunched in confusion "...you said only one person was going to be tied up."

"Yes, only one person will be tied to the log," Kakashi smiled, "because the one who shows the poorest effort in getting a bell will no longer be allowed to continue as a shinobi."

Registering the shock on their faces, he continued with his news, "As for the one tied to the log, well, whoever gets tied up will still fail but they will only be sent back to the Academy and will be given the chance to try again." He purposely jingled the bells in his hand, "Then again, it might be just one or all four that fail. You are allowed to use any weapon on you and any jutsu you might know."

Each of them clenched their fists and looked away from each other.

"Remember, you won't be able to get the bell if you don't have the will to kill me."

"That dangerous, Sensei!" Sakura looked at him as if he had gone mad.

Kagome smirked and, before Naruto could yell something out, she interrupted "Yah, I mean, you couldn't even dodge Naruto-kun's prank!" Kagome chuckled, "Some jounin you are!

Kakashi turned to her, "In society, those who have lesser abilities tend to complain more, so that makes you the weakest." Oh, Kakashi knew that she graduated top of her class—courtesy of the Hokage—but he needed her to take this seriously.

Kagome sneered at his cutting remark, her bangs partially covering her eyes as she angrily stared at him. "Oh I don't need you to take me seriously," She suddenly chuckled causing Sakura and Naruto to stare at her warily. "Go ahead and disregard me all together, Kakashi. It'll make it all the more easier to get a bell from _you._"

Kakashi blinked at her. Iruka had told him that Kagome was going to be a wild card considering her clan, but the one thing he could count on was her not addressing him by his proper title until he earned her respect. According to Iruka, he should have been called Hatake-san but it looks like his observation reduced him to a blatant Kakashi. How disrespectful.

Looking at the rest of the team, he could see that Kagome's reaction toward him had caused Sakura to shy away from him, a small glare on her face. Naruto was clenching his fists but he was staring at them both in confusion, probably more unsure of what was going on.

Sasuke? Sasuke was glaring at him, but the Uchiha had been doing that since he had given them the unexpected news.

He smirked behind his mask, "Good. It looks like you guys finally have the intent to kill me. Now we will start when I say _go_." Kakashi suddenly disappeared, making each of them gasp in shock. They all turned around when a voice called out to them from across the field, "I think I can start liking you guys."

There, Kakashi leaned carelessly against a tree. His arms crossed as he gave them that smiling look.

Sakura stared at Kakashi with apprehension, _I-I didn't even see him move!_

Sasuke tensed, _I guess he really is a jounin._

Kagome frowned, her adrenalin increasing, _How do I fight him?_

Naruto smiled widely, _This guy is gonna be tough. I can't let my guard down with him. _Looking at Sasuke, he grinned, _I'll definitely do better than Sasuke-teme!_

Kakashi raised his arm, making each of them tense. Letting it go down he yelled out, "GO!"

Each of them disappeared.

_One of the basics for a ninja is to conceal his presence and hide. _Kakashi glanced at each of their hiding spots. Sasuke was hiding in the branches of a tree somewhere to the east of him with Naruto hiding behind the same tree. Sakura was under a bush and Kagome –he smirked in amusement—was hiding in the river. Each of their hiding spots was good, but they needed to learn how to conceal their chakra better.

_I wonder, though, who will come at me first?_

Suddenly, five Narutos rushed at him, each of them holding out a kunai that was quickly thrown at Team Sevens' leader. Kakashi grabbed the first one to come at him and deflected the rest. After rapidly slicing through each clones with the kunai he had caught, he then threw the weapon into the river, forcing Kagome to leap out from her hiding spot.

She didn't stop to take in a much needed breath as she took out several kunais and launched them at Kakashi. Like with Naruto, Kakashi deflected each kunai. However, he didn't expect Kagome to tug on some chakra wires in place.

Kakashi quickly looked to the fallen kunais to see the chakra going through each of ring. The kunai shot off of the ground and floated mid-air for a second before heading toward him again. He was quick to deflect them and jump away. Not a moment later, real wires shot out from the ground. This time, he took a second to check the fallen kunai for more chakra wires. When he was sure they had none, he focused on Kagome.

He glanced at Kagome's hands; they were in the form of the ram seal. He could barely detect chakra coming from the wires so he doubted they could actually do any damage. Never the less, Kakashi made sure to avoid them. Quickly tiring of the cat and mouse game, he threw a kunai toward the wire. The moment the two metals touched, the wire sent sparks flying. Kagome winced, but it went unnoticed by both her sensei and her teammates.

Kakashi narrowed his eyes. Only when the kunai touched the wire did the chakra increase. Those definitely weren't ordinary wires, especially if they used chakra like that. He watched as the wires coiled around Kagome like a snake. She earned her title of Rookie of the Year if she could already do one of her clan techniques. _Still, she shouldn't be able to use her chakra like that. Genin don't have that much of a supply of chakra yet._

Kagome tightened the ram seal and in accord, the wires shot out toward her sensei. He was quick to make hand seals in response.

Tiger

Snake

Tiger

"Suiton: Suijinheki!"

Kagome gaped at the large wall of water that burst out of the ground, encircling her sensei. Her eyes dilated from the pain of the electricity as her wires hit the water wall, not only destroying the water with the sudden charge but also shocking her in the process. Kagome grit her teeth and bore through it, not wanting to let anyone know of the pain she was experiencing. Her brothers would be ashamed of her if she showed emotion.

Kagome called back her wires when Kakashi disappeared from sight. She was slightly out of breath, but she ignored her slight fatigue in order to find her sensei. Kagome discreetly sniffed the air but she couldn't find a trace of him thanks to the evaporated water. She tensed when she heard a pained groan. She knew that voice...

Slowly turning her head, Kagome's eyes widened in horror at the sight before her. "N-naruto...kun..."

Naruto struggled to push himself up. He glanced up at Kagome and gave her a bloody grin. "I-I," he winced, "I'm...fine...just find Sasuke, Kagome...Kakashi-sensei is taking this test seriously and I think Sasuke might be in trouble. You have to go and help him..." Naruto coughed violently, blood covering his hand when he stopped. Kagome took a step toward him. "Kagome...did you hear me? Find Sasuke!"

Kagome nodded and took out a kunai. She faced the forest, giving Naruto one last look before stabbing her left thigh. The genjutsu around her broke but the kunai in her thigh remained.

* * *

Naruto stared in shock at his teammate. She had just...

"Kagome-chan..." He made a move to run out but a kunai stopped him. He looked up. Sasuke was still staring out into the field, but he held out his arm to stop Naruto. "Sasuke-teme?"

"We can't interfere."

"But Kagome-chan! She obvio-"

Sasuke gave him a small glare and Naruto was shocked to see the Sharingan activated, the one tomoe slightly spinning. "Kakashi trapped Kagome in a genjutsu; she stabbed her thigh to get herself out of it." Sasuke turned his head back to clearing when Kakashi stepped out from the trees. Naruto forced himself to relax and stare out to the field.

Both Naruto and Sasuke thought the same thing. _Kakashi really is taking this seriously..._

* * *

Kakashi stared at Kagome with curiosity, not caring that there was a kunai protruding out of her thigh. He knew why she used the kunai after all. This, for a genin who couldn't completely control his or her chakra, was an innovative idea, accomplishing what was intended—to break the genjutsu.

"How did you know?" he asked after a few moments.

Kagome gave him a glare and quickly removed the kunai, hoping to make the pain go away more quickly. It didn't help. Taking in deep breaths, she squeezed her eyes shut. Opening them, she stared at Kakashi with tired eyes. "You don't know Naruto-kun enough to pull off his personality. It almost had me fooled, though, but then you made a mistake. Naruto, no matter the situation, always trusts that the Uchiha can take care of himself. Therefore, he wouldn't have ordered me to find and save Sasuke. Naruto-kun's not like that."

"Hm..."

Kagome stretched out her leg with a grimace. "Never thought you to be the sadistic type, Sensei." Kagome gave Kakashi a long look. Finally, as if deciding something, Kagome put her kunai away. With a bit of difficulty, she leaped out of sight. Her turn with Kakashi was over and she hadn't been close to getting a bell. She would try again later. Now, she needed to properly prepare herself.

Kakashi watched her depart. "I just remembered...I forgot to mention the lesson," he shrugged, "Oh well, whoever comes next will learn the lesson."

Naruto growled and, with a frustrated huff, Naruto formed his best jutsu, "Kage bushin no jutsu!"

Immediately, the five newly formed Narutos charged out from the foliage and toward Kakashi. "You'll pay for what you did to Kagome-chan!" screamed all five clones.

Kakashi looked at the oncoming danger with exasperation. He would have thought that Naruto would know not to use the same jutsu twice, especially if it didn't work the first time. Furthermore, Naruto kept sending the clones out from the same position. Had Kakashi been an enemy, he would have easily been able to tell where Naruto was hiding. This was not good.

He quickly disposed of the clones with a kunai. Naruto sent out a couple more, but this time he rushed out with them, ignoring Sasuke's hiss to get back. He clenched his fists and sent a punch at Kakashi, who ducked and, with a jab, took out a clone. Naruto didn't stop; he crouched low and sent out a kick. Again, Kakashi dodged it and took out another clone.

Naruto growled, "Will you just stand still so I can punch you?"

Naruto had his two remaining clones attached themselves to Kakashi's arms. He grinned and, with a battle cry, charged forward, aiming his fist at Kakashi's face.

*Poof*

Naruto blinked in confusion at the smoke surrounding him. _Kakashi-sensei turned into a log. Huh?_

"You really shouldn't let your enemy get behind you," Kakashi instructed in a creepy, low voice. Naruto tensed and looked at Kakashi from the side of his eye. Kakashi preformed his Ultimate Jutsu, "One Thousand Years of Death!"

Naruto felt a couple droplets of sweat slide down his face.

* * *

Sakura winced as Naruto was sent flying, yelling in pain. She really didn't think the jutsu, if you could call it that, was a serious one. But from Naruto's reaction...

Sakura looked at Kakashi with apprehension. He had easily taken out Kagome and now, with some silly jutsu nonetheless, he was easily taking on Naruto—the Yondaime and Gondaime's son! How was she, a no-name-ninja, supposed to take on a jounin? Heck, she only knew the academy jutsus! So what was that supposed to do against her sensei's genjutsu, his powerful taijutsu, or even his less than impressive array of ninjutsus? None of the things she knew could top that stuff.

She bit her lip; she'd cross this bridge when she came to it. For now, she would watch and learn. She was good at that.

* * *

Sasuke grit his teeth in annoyance. _I not only have to deal with Naruto, but apparently my own sensei is an idiot, too. Great..._

He narrowed his eyes and made sure to focus with his Sharingan on what was happening. He couldn't tell much with his Sharingan, as it only having one tomoe. The best it could do right now was see through a genjutsu and keep up with a slightly faster-than-average genin. Not a very good Sharingan, but he understood why. He needed to get into situations where it would be forced to grow.

He turned his head when someone landed beside him. "Naruto..."

Naruto gave him a side glare. "Teme...don't bug me right now. I got a plan!" With that, Naruto jumped back down with Kakashi. Sasuke scoffed at his friend's idiocy. _How is Naruto supposed to beat a jounin? Especially...alone..._

Sasuke's eyes widened in realization, _Alone...alone we can't beat Kakashi...but together... Still, even if we all worked together...we would still need two people to give up their position as shinobi. Nobody is going to want that. So how...now that I think about it, I've never heard of a two-man squad unless one of the genin has died but that in itself is rare. So why would Kakashi purposely try to separate us?_

.0.

Just as Naruto was going to charge at Kakashi, the jounin jumped away, his hands darting to his hip pouch, causing Naruto to jump back a bit, tensed for anything. "Ninja Tactic Number One: Taijutsu. We'll start with that first." Kakashi began to rummage for something in from his pouch.

_Wait. Isn't Taijutsu how a ninja fights hand-to-hand without a weapon? _Naruto stood rigid as Kakashi's hand began to pull something out of the pouch, _But he's going to use a weapon anyway! _Naruto clenched his teeth in anger.

Suddenly, Kakashi pulled out a book and began to pose in a serious manner. Naruto almost fell over where he stood. Nobody noticed the choking gasp coming from Sakura. Naruto stared at Kakashi in confusion, not understanding why his sensei was taking out a book when he should be ready to fight.

Kakashi looked up from his book to stare at Naruto "Well, aren't you going to come at me?"

"But, um, um...why did you take out a book?"

Kakashi looked back at his book. "Why? Because I'm curious about how the story will develop." He turned a page, "Besides, it won't matter either way with you." Naruto clenched his fists, his nails digging into the palm of his hands to the point of making it bleed. Swiftly putting his kunai away, he ran toward Kakashi, fist stretching outward.

"I'M GOING TO POUND YOU!"

Kakashi sighed in annoyance as Naruto recklessly charged at him. Naruto was going to become a lousy shinobi if he always did this.

It was that thought that had him shocked when Naruto caught him unprepared...

.0.

Sasuke looked toward the clearing just in time to see Naruto smirk and multiple clones come out of disguises and trap Kakashi. That was a smart move, disguising his clones as the forest around them. That could fool many people. Sasuke stared at the struggling Kakashi.

"What is your motive...?" he murmured.

.0.

The real Naruto climbed out of the river all the while snickering. He looked through his wet hair at the person trapped by his clones. It hadn't been easy and it hadn't been short, but he did it. He found a weak spot in Kakashi's defense and he used that to his advantage.

_Now...time to get Kakashi back for what he did to Kagome-chan! _Naruto grinned and cracked his knuckles. With one last snicker, he charged toward Kakashi. All seven of his clones clung tightly to the jounin so that the real Naruto could attack him.

A loud crack was heard as Naruto's fist connected with his target's jaw.

*Poof*

Naruto blinked.

Why did he just punch his clone?

He blinked again.

Where was Kakashi-sensei?

His remaining six clones frantically searched around themselves and the clearing. The real Naruto just stood there in a small amount of confusion that lasted until he saw something. Something shiny. A grin stretched on his face. Who knew Kakashi-sensei could be so careless!

Naruto rushed forward. Now standing in front of a tree, he didn't stop to wonder what a bell was doing way over there. All he cared about was that he was going to get one. He was going to beat Sasuke in something. He got a bell first!

.0.

Sasuke face palmed when Naruto actually fell for the trap. He used his hand to rub the bridge of his nose as Naruto dangled on the rope, his clones desperately trying to calm him down so they could help him. Honestly, how could someone fall for something so plainly obvious? Only an idiot would fall for that...

He rolled his eyes. This _was_ Naruto. He _was_ an idiot. _So it's only right that he would fall for that. That dope..._that's _why I told him to wait for me to come up with a plan._

His onyx eyes watched Kakashi come out from the forest once again. Only this time, Kakashi had a look of disbelief. _Well you had better start believing it Kakashi. This is Naruto, son of two Hokages or not, he is a dope. _Sasuke watched with boredom as Kakashi took care of Naruto's clones with ease. _The world's largest dope._

Once Kakashi finished berating Naruto on his lack of sense, Kakashi picked up the bell. Sasuke narrowed his eyes and pulled the wires in hand. _He let down his guard!_ A barrage of kunai and shuriken launched themselves at Kakashi.

A few seconds later, even Sasuke stared in shock as Kakashi was impaled with the weapons. _Wasn't Kakashi supposed to be good enough to dodge that?_

"Sasuke-teme, you went too far!" Naruto bounced around on the rope, frantically waving his hands. What else could he do when his sensei was just killed in front of him?

*Poof*

Sasuke grit his teeth and pushed himself off the tree. _Dammit! Kakashi purposely let down his guard and I fell for it. He probably used my attack to determine where I am. _He pushed himself to go faster and farther away from Naruto's yells. _I can't believe I fell for that log trick like Naruto._

_I am not a dope._

* * *

Sakura panted as she ran. She needed to get away, and now! Sasuke had used his kunais and now Kakashi was somewhere undetermined. She was vulnerable. She didn't know where Kakashi was, but he probably knew exactly where she was.

She pushed past more bushes and trees as she ran.

She really needed to start thinking of a plan! Or maybe...maybe she could find Sasuke-kun and they could work together. An image of Sango presented itself in her mind and she cringed. Maybe it would be safer to try to find Kagome-chan instead. She was strong, too.

A noise ahead of her made her stop. Sakura dropped down and peered over the bush. She covered her mouth to hide the gasp.

_Kakashi-sensei...I think I'm safe. _She let go of her mouth to grab a kunai from her pouch. "I don't think he noticed me," she whispered to herself. "Maybe...I can-"

"Sakura. Behind you."

She tensed and quickly looked behind her. Her vision was filled with Kakashi's face.

She screamed and threw her kunai.

* * *

Kagome ripped the bandage with her teeth. She looked over her leg and mentally sighed. She was never that good at bandaging. Kagome looked over herself and sighed again. Maybe she shouldn't have tied her wound on dirt. Now her clothes were wet _and_ stained with dirt and blood. The white shirt was gonna be a pain to wash.

"Fantastic," she muttered while slowly standing. Kagome did a quick scan of her surroundings before lifting her left sleeve. One thin wire was wrapped around her upper arm, easily hidden by the fabric. Making sure that it was firmly secured, she pulled her sleeve back in place.

It was then that a scream tore through the air. Kagome turned toward the source of the noise. _That was Sakura!_

Kagome pushed off the ground and ran toward its source.

* * *

Kakashi stared at his bleeding fingers. She had thrown the kunai with speed and such force that when he moved to grab it, he had actually pricked his fingers on the blade. This was new. He looked up and stared at the still-surprised Sakura. He had planned to use a genjutsu on her but this put a dent in his plans. Albeit a small dent that could easily be fixed, but it was a dent nonetheless.

Sakura crawled back a little and, when she was sure that Kakashi wasn't paying attention, she stood and ran. She didn't even bother turning around to see if Kakashi was following; all she wanted to do was get away from there! Sakura thought back to his reaction at being caught off guard. _She_ couldn't believe that she actually had got him. Her! Haruno Sakura.

Sakura pushed into a clearing only to hit something, causing her to stagger backward and fall. She heard someone else curse which made her tense.

_He couldn't have caught me that fast could he? _Sakura slowly raised her head up. Instead of fear flooding her, it was relief. She found Kagome!

"Kagome-chan!" Sakura hastily stood and rushed over to the still-cursing girl. Kagome stopped rubbing her sore chin and looked over at the one who called her name.

"Sakura-chan?" Kagome furrowed her eyebrows. That's right, she had heard Sakura scream earlier. Kagome looked Sakura over; the girl didn't look hurt at all. Maybe a little panicked, but nothing other than that. Had she been wrong in her assumption that Kakashi had gone overboard and done something bad to Sakura? "Are you hurt, Sakura-chan? I heard you scream earlier."

The other kunoichi shook her head. Kagome silently sighed. She would never forgive herself if Sakura somehow got hurt.

"Kagome-chan," Kagome focused on Sakura. "Kakashi-sensei might be following me. I don't know if he did thou-"

"Of course I followed, Sakura."

Both girls stiffened at the sound of Kakashi's voice.

Sakura was the first to turn toward Kakashi. Just in time to see him push Sasuke's body off him.

Sasuke's bloody and bruised body, with a few kunais still protruding out of it, landed roughly on the ground. Beside her, Sakura barely registered Kagome stepping back in shock. Her focus was entirely on Sasuke.

"Sasuke-kun..." She turned fearful and tear-filled eyes toward her _sensei_. "How..." she swallowed the lump in her throat. "...how could y-you."

"You'll pay for what you did to Sasuke," Sakura turned her head when she heard the angry hiss. Kagome's bangs were covering her eyes as she stared at the ground, her fists curled tightly. The dark-haired girl suddenly looked back up; her eyes filled with nothing but determination and anger. Such raw anger that Sakura retreated a step. She had never seen Kagome with such a look in her eyes. The girl just looked so angry and feral right now with her teeth bared and her shoulders tense. Sakura could only watch helplessly as Kagome charged heedlessly toward Kakashi.

She could only watch as Kagome was continuously pushed back.

She could only watch as Kakashi continued to block Kagome's ninjutsus like child's play.

She only watched.

Sakura closed her eyes. She didn't want to see any of this! _Why...why is Kakashi-sensei acting like this? Why is he acting like the enemy?_

_Maybe he is the enemy. _Whispered a small voice in her mind. _NO! No...that can't be right. That's not true!_

"Stop it!" she screamed. A choked gurgle was her response. Sakura snapped her eyes open.

She immediately regretted that action.

Kagome knelt on the ground, holding onto the kunai embedded in her abdomen. Kagome looked over at her. "Sakura...help me..."

"Kagome-chan!"

* * *

Kakashi flipped another page in his book as Sakura finally screamed and fainted. He looked over the book to stare at her body.

_Thirty minutes...she lasted pretty long in that jutsu. Still...maybe I went too far._

Kakashi shrugged and slipped his book back in his pouch. He glanced at his fingers, they had stopped bleeding. "Ninja Tactic Number Two: Genjutsu. Sakura seems well adapted to handling it, now she just needs to learn how to identify one and to get out of it." With that, Kakashi jumped away and headed toward the last member that had yet to be tested.

Uchiha Sasuke.

* * *

First off, lets thank my beta _Persephonae_ for beta-ing!

Second, I was going to update this earlier but I forgot about it -_-

Updated on December 24, 2010


	5. Results

**.**

**.**

**.**

**Chapter Five**

_Results_

Once his supplies were checked over, Sasuke zipped up his bag and walked over to the opened window. He scowled when the night's cold air brushed over his skin. The least Naruto could have done was to close the window when he sneaked out for some ramen. The young Uchiha shut the window and made sure to lock it so Naruto had to enter through the front door. Maybe then he would learn his lesson when Kushina scolded him for leaving the house for ramen.

Just as he was turning away from the window, something caught his eye. Something—or really, someone—with dark hair and light gray eyes: Saiketsu Kagome. He watched with interest as Sakura turned away from her friend and ran, tears streaming down her face. Kagome's upset expression darkened with anger and, with one swift movement, she turned and yelled at the man behind her. From his position, Sasuke couldn't hear what was being said, but the older man could obviously care less. Kagome probably realized this as she turned and ran after Sakura.

Now, with a clear view, Sasuke could see that the older man resembled Kagome in every way besides eye color. She had light grey eyes; this man had dark eyes. What color? Sasuke couldn't tell, but it was easy to distinguish that the man's eyes were darker, especially when he raised them to meet Sasuke's gaze.

He tensed but, other than that, Sasuke allowed no outward indication of his surprise. For a few moments, neither moved or changed their passive expressions. A family of four exited the small restaurant near where the man was standing, and, for a few seconds, Sasuke's view was blocked. When the small family moved away, Sasuke tensed further: the man was gone!

Not letting himself panic, he searched the area below him. He found the man only a moment later, walking down the street with another person. His companion was effeminate, but a man, nonetheless. Sasuke made sure not to let his eyes wander from the man who had upset Kagome, not wanting to lose sight of him again. He continued to do this until the man had completely disappeared from his view.

But If his assumptions were correct, then that man was Kagome's brother. He had to be Saiketsu Bankotsu, the current Head of to the Saiketsu Clan and the former leader of the now disbanded Band of Seven. He came to the conclusion that he, Uchiha Sasuke, did not trust that man! Sasuke narrowed his eyes slightly, remembering what the man had done only a week ago, a few days after Team Seven's creation. He slightly shook his head, knowing it was best not to dwell on that day. It was, after all, over now.

Turning away from his window, he thought back to the genin test. It had seemed so easy, but in reality it had been difficult, confusing, and, overall, a very good test for new genins.

A very good test to _fail_ genins.

-0-Flashback-0-

Sasuke attached the final wire to his trap and quickly moved away to make another. At least, that had been the plan. He turned his head when he heard a loud scream. _Sakura?_

Usually he would ignore anything when it came to the bright-haired kunoichi, but—

His eyebrows furrowed. _Her scream was filled with fear. Lots of it._ He clenched his fists. What could Kakashi have done to her? _He used taijutsu on Naruto and for Kagome...heck, she didn't even get a lesson. So thinking logically, he used either genjutsu or ninjutsu_. Sasuke really doubted Kakashi used ninjutsu on the girl. She couldn't use one jutsu herself that wasn't a E-ranked. _If it was a genjutsu then it's no wonder Sakura fell for it. Kagome, Naruto, and now Sakura._

Sasuke reached into the holster strapped to his thigh and pulled out a small, thin scroll. He was quick to summon the item. He curled his fingers around the dark metal, his Fuuma shuriken.

_I'm next._ He smirked when he sensed a nearing chakra. _It's a good thing I figured out your little plan, Kakashi._

Sasuke grabbed a kunai from his pouch and swiftly sent it toward his right. Two kunais clashed together. Turning his head, Sasuke passively regarded Kagome, despite his inner distress. Would Kagome actually hear him out? Even if she did, would she believe him? Would she try to follow through with his plan?

Kagome was an unknown factor.

He _hated_ not knowing something.

"What the hell, Uchiha?" Kagome stalked forward and grabbed her fallen kunai. Once again glaring at him, she spoke, "You could have seriously hurt me, you know!"

He scoffed and looked away from her. "And here I thought you were a decent kunoichi."

Kagome returned his response with a dangerous glare but he ignored it. "So what did you want, since you obviously did _that_ to get my attention?"

Sasuke counted to ten in his head and then he did the most difficult thing he had ever had to do: he swallowed his pride. He needed her help even if he didn't like it. He turned his head in her direction and gave her a withering glare as she continued to talk about him doing useless things and wasting her time.

"And furthermore—"

"I need your help."

Kagome's jaw snapped closed at the unexpected request. Of all of the things he could have said, _that_ had been the last utterance she would have expected. Heck, the idea of Sasuke asking her for help had been virtually nonexistent. So...why did he have a sudden change of tactics?

"I figured out how to get the bells from Kakashi..."

Kagome zoned back into her thoughts as realization hit her, and she mentally smacked her forehead. Duh! It was the exam! Of course, he wanted to work with her to get the bells. But...when did the Uchiha ever work with anyone? And also, what about Naruto? Or Sakura for that matter?

Kagome's eyes widened. _Sakura! I forgot about her! _She turned around and jumped into a nearby tree.

"Oi, Saiketsu?"

Kagome turned toward Sasuke, but glanced back at the forest. Help Sasuke and get a bell or find Sakura to ensure her safety?

Get the prize or help a friend.

Kagome clenched her fists. She wanted to be greedy. She wanted to stay with Sasuke to get the bell...

"I have to help Sakura; I heard her yell earlier," she tensed her muscles, preparing to jump. "Maybe next time I'll help, Uchiha!" she yelled back as she took off.

Hiding in the leaves of a shadowed tree, Kakashi tilted his head as he regarded what he just witnessed. Was that an attempt at teamwork? He couldn't be sure, but it had sounded like it. If it hadn't been for Kagome rushing off to Sakura, the two of them might have actually been able to get a hold of a bell. Of course, that was assuming they would have even worked together in the first place.

He mentally shrugged his shoulders and put his book away. It was time to test his final student. Kakashi jumped down from the branch on which he had been hiding. He focused his attention on Kagome's retreating chakra instead of not the now-rigid Uchiha. Sasuke, it seemed, did not stand for being placed second. Kakashi moved a few steps forward, before a Fuuma shuriken lodged itself into the tree behind him. Kakashi stared at the weapon for a few seconds with interest before turning toward an aggravated Uchiha. Kakashi regarded him with little to no interest.

It was that look, that disinterested look, which set Sasuke off.

Sasuke reached into his kunai pouch and threw it with precision precise aim. Only Kakashi's experience saved him from the pierce of the sharp weapon. Sasuke didn't stop with one kunai, however. The youngest Uchiha was quick to grab more weapons, both shurikens and kunais. He had a plan; now all he had to do was put it into action. Then, oh then, Kakashi would fall.

As he was forced to jump away time and time again, Kakashi had to give the Uchiha some credit; not only on his speed and ability to use weapons, but also on his evasive skills. Not many genin knew how to do things without being sensed, especially when they had no real experience. Of course, he should have known that Sasuke would be able to do this. He did descend from a line of shinobi who were trained from childhood. It's only natural that Sasuke would pick up on their skill whether they were there to teach him or not.

When Kakashi jumped away from another barrage of weapons, he decided enough was enough. It was also at this moment that Kakashi realized something: Sasuke was holding a multitude of wires, one in particular being held between his teeth. Kakashi narrowed his eye but he wasn't given the time to think about what the wires were for, instead, he was shown firsthand.

"Katon: Gokakyu no Jutsu!"

The elemental jutsu quickly went from its user through the wires to its target: the trees, especially one tree in particular. As the flames grew and spun in a show of deathly heat, Sasuke weaved another pair of hand seals, using the flames as cover to prepare the jutsu. Sasuke's onyx eyes, illuminated by the flames, quickly scanned the area. He couldn't sense Kakashi anymore but he had a distinct feeling that he knew exactly what his _sensei_ was going to do. He started another jutsu, forgoing his original plan for another, possibly more amusing, plan.

Just as the fires began to dwindle down to nothing, Sasuke grabbed another kunai. But, this time, he wrapped a paper around it. With a quick flick of his wrist, the kunai shot off and, upon its landing, it exploded.

When the smoke cleared away, Sasuke was nowhere to be found. Instead, Naruto lay wrapped in the rope on the ground on the exact spot that Sasuke once stood. Part one of Sasuke's plan had begun. Somewhere in the forest, as Naruto blinked in confusion, Sasuke smirked.

Naruto at first refused to move, believing it too good to be true. Somehow, he had been freed from the cursed tree that kept trapping him no matter how many times he initially escaped its grasp. When it finally registered in his mind that, no, this was not a dream. Naruto stood up and laughed, his arms flailing around with joy. He never noticed the wire that he was moving toward at a fast pace. In fact, Naruto only blinked, his mouth still curved up in a grin, when he tripped over the wire.

Part two, complete.

When the wire moved, Naruto initiated a sequence of actions. Hidden wires rose from the ground and wrapped around each was an explosive tag. None of the tags were close enough to burn him but they weren't far enough away to not be a problem. It was in the moment that the tags exploded that a hand rose from the ground and dragged Naruto under, not only saving Naruto but trapping him as well.

* * *

Sakura rubbed her head lightly as she walked though the dense forest. How long had she been out? Licking her dry lips, she took in her surroundings for the first time.

When she first began running from Kakashi, the foliage had been easy to run through, very easy in fact. Now, it seemed that the farther she walked, the denser the forest became. The sun was also beginning its long journey downward, making the sky a golden color—a stark contrast from its normal blue. Judging from the sun's position, they had maybe an hour or less left to complete their test.

The only progress she had made was fainting.

Sakura let out a shuddering sigh and kicked a rock in her path. She wasn't doing such a good job right now, she knew this, but there wasn't much she could do. At least...not right now. At least Sakura hoped this wouldn't last forever. She wanted, and needed, to get stronger. The life of a shinobi did not allow weaklings to survive in its world.

Her civilian background didn't exactly help her but that's why Sakura just wanted a chance, just one chance to be able to grow. Not many were willing to give her that chance. A small smile and blush rose as Sakura remembered the one person that had encouraged her path, had helped her. It had been so long since she thought of that person and, even now, their memory was quickly fading from her mind. The most Sakura could remember was a blur of their narrow eyes, dark hair, pale skin, and onyx eyes. Sasuke Uchiha matched all of these descriptions.

Sakura shrieked as she tripped and fell. She pushed herself onto her hands and knees and just stared at the ground.

_I tripped..._was the only thought that processed as Sakura remained stock-still. Anger suddenly bubbled in the pit of her stomach. Her fingers curled into her palms, leaving small claw marks on the dirt. _How-how do I ever plan on getting the strength I want if I can't even stop myself from tripping on nothing! I...I fell prey to the __most __simplest genjutsu invented and fainted! Not the best of reactions to for a future kunoichi._

Sakura slowly stood up. Now was not a good time to berate herself over these things, not when she was being timed and especially not when this was the exam that would decide her fate in her chosen career.

_Alright, Sakura, calm down and just breathe for a second. _She closed her eyes and did just that, breathing deeply through her mouth and exhaling through her mouth several times. _Now, lets think about everything we know on the situation. Kakashi-sensei is not playing around with this test is number one. Second is that nobody is working together, everyone pit against each other. Third and most important is that __**I'm **__in a dense forest, completely lost and alone and with a pounding headache to boot._

She gripped her head for a moment, instantly her hand moving behind her head, making her wince. Falling to the ground did not come without consequences. Sakura allowed herself a moment to massage her head, making the pain lessen.

With the pain numbed, Sakura looked around her surroundings again. _There has to be something around here that will lead me back to sensei and the others...I couldn't have gone that far from them, right? Even if I do find the others...what do I do then? How am I supposed to pass this exam the way I'm doing things? Maybe...maybe I could find Sas-_

Sakura gasped when a large flame burst skyward a mile in front of her. Even from that distance, she could feel the scorching flames licking at her skin. She knew that attack anyway!

"Sasuke-kun!"

_Sasuke can help me pass this exam! He will help me, I'm sure! _Sakura didn't wait another second to run in that direction. Her fear and confusion fell silent in her as she drew closer and closer to the dying embers of the flame.

* * *

Kagome let out a relieved sigh when Sakura ran toward the source of the flame, toward Kakashi and Sasuke. Seeing Sakura just stand there with a dazed look had initially worried her, but the kunoichi had managed to pull herself out of it.

When Sakura's form was completely hidden by the surrounding foliage, Kagome jumped on a high branch and headed off in Naruto's direction.

She frowned.

**It **probably wasn't the best of times to dwell on it but...what were her feelings for Naruto? She had never given it much thought before. All she really knew was that she cared for Naruto more than she did anybody else; she cared for him even more than she had for her brothers. Sango had told her that it meant she liked Naruto. Kagome had still been unsure of her feelings at that time, but if Sango, the one who was going to marry Miroku one day, told her so, then it must be true that she liked Naruto, right?

Kagome pushed those thoughts away, like she was used to doing whenever they came up, and focused on getting to her destination. She needed to focus on getting back to Naruto.

Seeing the next branch a little too far away, Kagome put some chakra into her legs to help her push off. The body that smashed into her mid-air caught her by surprise. Kagome's mind went into a confused state, not able to grasp what was happening at the moment. Her eyes shut as her surroundings began to spin and she quickly plummeted to the ground. She did this without a care that her and whoever crashed into her were both falling to the ground quickly.

Warm arms grasped her around the waist and turned her around. Her gray eyes peeked open but immediately shut again, her vision was blocked by her hair as it billowed around her face. Whoever this was, they were going to take the brunt of the fall. That was what she had thought, anyway.

In the next second, Kagome felt the person tense their muscles and remove one arm from around her. Chakra flared up and Kagome struggled to remember how she recognized that chakra. She didn't have time to think about it as she was jarred from her thoughts when her fall abruptly stopped.

Both Kagome and the unknown person stayed perfectly still, except for their breathing, the only other sounds sound were from the day animals.

"Are you alright?" Kagome snapped open her eyes at the familiar gruff voice. She looked up and was met with onyx eyes staring down at her. One arm grasped onto her waist, the other clenching tightly to a thick branch. Kagome only blinked stupidly, her thoughts still too scrambled to form a proper sentence. Sasuke rolled his eyes and let go of her waist. Kagome let out a yelp but was quick to use her reflexives to grab onto her own branch.

"I asked if you were alright, Saiketsu."

Kagome grit her teeth. Oh, she was fine now. Everything was just peaches and daisies. It wasn't as if her heart was racing from the adrenaline of almost falling to her death! No, of course not! Why would something be wrong with the picture of her hanging from a branch wide-eyed and panting? She was okay; she was just fine. Absolutely and perfectly—

"Not fine!" she yelled up to the boy above her.

He was quiet. When he answered, his voice was laced with annoyance, "Glad to know that you appreciate my service."

"Serv—Dammit, Uchiha! You're the reason I almost fell!"

"Hn."

It was her turn to roll her eyes. With a little effort, Kagome pulled herself onto the branch. She blew a few strands of her black hair away from her face and glanced at him. "Why are you constantly getting in my way with this test?"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes. "Getting in your way?" He repeated slowly, almost with disbelief. "I've been trying to get you to work with me-"

"Exactly! And I clearly remember saying that I couldn't because I needed to help Sakura!"

"And where is Sakura?"

"Sh—" The words stopped on the tip of her tongue.

"Kagome-chan..."

She turned at the call of her name. There, in all her pink-haired glory, stood the very person that Kagome had watched earlier. "Sakura?" Sakura smiled and nodded. "But...I—you..."

"I ran into Sasuke-kun and he asked me to help him. He knows how to pass the test, Kagome-chan, he really knows!"

All three turned as another large flame shot skyward. Kagome swiftly turned to the two behind her, with a kunai in each hand. "Who are you? Sasuke is still with Kakashi so you," she threw one kunai at Sasuke, another quickly taking its place in her palm. Sasuke dodged the kunai, a scowl now on his face. "are not Uchiha Sasuke! You can't be Haruno Sakura, either!"

When Kagome threw another kunai at Sakura, Sasuke jumped in front of the scared girl and deflected it with his own kunai. Sasuke flashed in front of the defensive kunoichi and, with two of his own kunais, they pushed against each other, both struggling to over-power the other.

"Will you just stop and listen to me!"

"You're not Uchiha Sasuke!"

"Yes I am!" Kagome glared at the 'Sasuke Impersonator' but froze when she was met with a pair of Sharingan eyes, "I am Sasuke..."

When Kagome slowly let down her arm, everyone relaxed. It was short-lived, however, as each of them became rigid when a loud, shrill noise met their ears.

They were too late.

The test was over...

* * *

There were many things that Kakashi could say that he had seen. This, however, was new. Never had a genin, a new-fresh-out-of-the-Academy-genin, ever out-smarted him. It wasn't just this kid, either. It seemed that Kushina had been honest when she said that he had to be on his toes with this team. Each of them was going to bring surprises. But had he truthfully taken her warnings to heart?

No.

Kakashi mentally made a note to remember that Kushina was not made the Hokage merely because she was the Yondaime's widow. No, the Konoha Council, despite being a bitter old bunch, actually considered Konoha's well-being. They had chosen Kushina as a leader because she had the qualifications to protect everyone in the village. She was strong and wise, even for her young age.

Glancing down at the angry genin, Kakashi had to take some of the credit he gave to Kushina away. Not as the Hokage, but as a kunoichi mother. That credit went to Mikoto, who obviously didn't shy away from teaching Sasuke the most important shinobi rule: there are no rules when fighting. Well...to some extent anyway.

Kakashi stared at the blond kid stuck in the jounin's trap. This was not Uchiha Sasuke that he trapped using his Doton: Shinju Zanshu no Jutsu. This was—

"Are you listening to me, you old man!" Kakashi's eye twitched. He was not _that_ old, thank you very much. "I SAID GET ME OU-"

"I happen to be kneeling right next to you, Naruto. There's no need to yell."

"No need to yell? Of course I need to yell, since you're still not GETTING ME OUT OF THIS DAMN HOLE!"

Kakashi let out a tired sigh and stood up, staring down at the even angrier gaki. "If you plan to ever become a shinobi, then you need to learn how to get out of a simple trap by yourself. More importantly," he started walking away from the struggling Naruto and toward the source of the high-pitched noise, knowing that if Naruto couldn't get himself out of the trap, then one of the three genin heading their way would eventually help him. "You need to learn how to _not_ get caught in a Kawarimi no Jutsu. Sasuke made good use of both that attack and you it seems."

Naruto grit his teeth. As if he needed to hear how great Sasuke was! He already knew Sasuke was strong, but to hear it over and over from the man that was going to be his sensei, well, in short, it was starting to piss him off.

When Kakashi leapt away, Naruto struggled to get free from the trap. It was just a hole but darn it if it wasn't hard to get out of! He froze when he heard the arguing of two familiar people. He increased his struggling more while simultaneously listening to the arguing grow closer and closer. Sweat dripped down his face as he heard the soft _tap-tap-tap _of their shoes.

_Come on you stupid dirt! Move, move, MOVE!_

"Naruto-kun?"

A shadow fell over him. His eyes were wide as he gulped and slowly tilted his head back. Standing over him was a smirking Sasuke. Kagome and Sakura peered over the Uchiha's shoulder to look at him. Naruto felt his face warm up at being discovered in this position by his new teammates.

Kagome moved from behind Sasuke to kneel in front of him. "Naruto-kun, did Kakashi do this to you?"

"Kakashi? What? No, no, no! Kakashi-sensei didn't do this," Naruto glared toward the still smirking Sasuke. His embarrassment all but faded away as resentment took its place, "_He_ did this to me!"

"Don't blame this on Sasuke-kun, Naruto-baka!" Sakura aimed admiring eyes toward the now-glaring Sasuke. She blinked at the look and then followed his gaze, noticing Kagome was glaring at Sasuke while digging Naruto out. She silently sighed. _Naruto really is a baka...giving them another reason to fight!_

Naruto seemed oblivious to his crush's thoughts as he opened his mouth, not batting an eyelash as the atmosphere turned cold with each word that passed his lips. Maybe it was the fact that he was stuck in a hole, or that his rival was the reason for his current position. Heck, it could also be-and it most likely was-that his sensei seemed more interested in Sasuke than him. Whatever the reason, Naruto couldn't find himself regretting what he was saying.

"And then he just left me there! If it hadn't been for Kakashi-sensei, I would have burned to a crisp! And after that, Kakashi-sensei could have done something terrible to me!" Naruto said, climbing out of the hole.

Sasuke's scowl tightened. As Naruto was hunched over after freeing himself, Sasuke kicked him in the rear causing Naruto to tumble forward.

"Uchiha!"

Sasuke gave Kagome a passive look, his anger having simmered down after kicking Naruto. "Yes, Saiketsu?"

Kagome said nothing, only giving him an annoyed look while helping Naruto up. Sakura picked at her red dress while watching her team interact. In the distance, she could still hear the bell making its loud, shrill noise. It seemed that none of them were paying attention to it, instead opting to glare at each other. She bit her lip.

While heading to Kagome after Sasuke found her, he had told her all about his plan to defeat Kakashi. Naruto would distract Kakashi, Kagome would trap him, Sasuke himself would attack and she would grab the bells in the midst of the confusion. His plan was to work as a team, but it seemed that Sasuke didn't care about being a team now that the test was over. He was willing to work as a group when he gets to benefit from it but now...now he no longer cared. Or, at least, that's how it seemed to Sakura.

"Sakura-chan?" Sakura blinked, only to turn pink when she saw each of her teammates was now looking at her. "Are you sick, Sakura-chan? You're turning red!" Naruto rested his hand on Sakura's forehead; her face darkened until it was completely crimson.

Sakura smacked Naruto's hand away, "I'm fine, Naruto!" She turned away from everyone, walking toward the sound of the bell. "What are we still doing over here anyway? The bell sounded a long time ago, and I'm sure that Kakashi-sensei is impatient by now!" she yelled over her shoulder.

Kagome shared a look with Naruto, both silently confused at Sakura's rushed actions. They shrugged and hurried to catch up with the fast-walking Sakura. Sasuke let out a "tch" while stuffing his hands in his pockets and walked in the same direction as his team, going at his own leisurely pace.

Almost immediately upon entering the clearing, Kakashi grabbed Naruto and tied him to the log. The remaining three tensed, knowing that one of them was going to picked as the worst of the worst and be forbidden from ever being a shinobi.

"Ah, don't worry just yet. I'm not going to announce anything for a while yet, so just take a seat by Naruto." When they sat down, Kakashi called for their attention again, "I was thinking while you four were taking your time to get here." Each of them, even Naruto, paid rapt attention to Kakashi. "None of you need to be sent back to the academy,"

Kagome and Naruto were quick to grin at this news and laugh in joy. Beside Kagome, Sasuke smirked in satisfaction, unsure of how, but just glad that they passed. Sakura sat in bafflement for a few seconds until a bright smile took its place. Even though she hadn't done anything, she was glad to know she passed.

Each of them only had one thought: _I did it! I really did it!_

"You four should be banned from becoming shinobi!"

That brought down everyone's mood.

"Wha-what do you mean _banned_?" Naruto struggled in his restraints. He just couldn't believe what he was hearing: all four banned from ever becoming shinobi? It was a ridiculous idea, but having a parent as Hokage, Naruto knew it was, in fact, possible to ban people from becoming shinobi. But how could that happen to him? "Just because we couldn't get a bell doesn't mean we should be banned from becoming shinobi!"

Kakashi snorted. "You four...are just a bunch of brats who don't deserve the title of shinobi." None of them said a word but they were obviously upset. Sasuke looked as if he wanted to attack, but was restraining himself. "Do you four really think that being a shinobi is easy?"

Again nobody said a word.

"Why do you think we train in groups?"

Sakura looked down at Kagome; she looked as confused as Sakura felt. Then she looked at Kakashi. "What do you mean?"

Kakashi sighed. "In other words, you four don't get the answer of this test."

"The answer?" Naruto grumbled.

Before Kakashi could reply, Sasuke interrupted him. "The answer..."

Everyone looked at him but he ignored them, opting to stare at the ground. "The answer to this test is teamwork."

Naruto, Sakura and Kagome were shocked as realization flooded through them. Now that they thought about it, it was so plainly obvious.

"That's right. It too late, though, even if you did realize it now," Kakashi narrowed his eyes. "Maybe if you had realized this earlier and gotten everyone to work together, then maybe you guys could have gotten a bell from me."

"What's the point of teamwork if there are only two bells?" Kagome scrunched her eyebrows in concentration. "If all four of us had worked together to get the bells, then two of us would have still had to give up their position, one of us permanently giving up our chances at becoming a shinobi."

Sakura nodded her head in agreement, "Kagome-chan's right. A group conflict would have occurred instead of teamwork."

"Of course. This test purposely tries to put you four against each other. In this type of situation, we can select those who prioritize teamwork before themselves," Kakashi shook his head slightly. "That was the point of this test and each of you were pathetic."

"Sakura. You care more about Sasuke than Naruto even though Naruto was right in front of you and you had no idea where Sasuke was." Sakura turned slightly pink but it could hardly be noticed as she lowered her head in disappointment.

"Naruto. All you did was work on your own. You may have done it to 'avenge' Kagome but you didn't bother accepting Sasuke's help because, in the end, you weren't doing this for Kagome, you just wanted to beat Sasuke." Naruto looked toward the ground, shame being the most prominent emotion in his eyes.

"Sasuke. After Naruto rejected your offer to work together, you thought of everyone as a burden and did everything yourself. You even put Naruto in an unknown situation and didn't look back, not concerned for him at all." Sasuke grit his teeth, narrowed his eyes, and clenched his fists; he wasn't about to tell Kakashi that he knew about the test all along but was just hesitant to ask anyone because he really didn't think it was worth it.

"And you, Kagome. You were the worst. You were a combination of the three. You were doing everything by yourself despite the several chances to get help. You rejected Sasuke's offer to work together because you don't like him and when you thought Sakura was hurt, you dropped everything to find her. Normally helping a teammate would be a good thing but when you go by yourself into unknown situations, especially when you could have enlisted Sasuke's help, it is not. Furthermore, when you did find Sakura, you didn't even do anything. You just watched her run toward Sasuke or what could have been an enemy." Kagome mentally winced with each word that came out of his mouth because he was right, on every single point.

Kakashi looked over his team. Each of them appeared upset, some more than others. "Missions are done in groups. It's true that ninjas need well-developed individual abilities, but it's teamwork that is much more important." Kakashi turned his back to his team, "An individual action that disrupts the teamwork will result in danger or even death for the teammates. For example..."

They tensed when Kakashi disappeared.

"Kagome!" Everyone turned in the direction of Kakashi's voice. They all widened their eyes at what they saw. Sasuke was now being held against Kakashi, a kunai pressed against his throat and Kakashi looking absolutely angry. "Kagome, kill Naruto or Sasuke dies!"

Kagome, Naruto and Sakura gasped. Sakura staring back and forth between Kagome and Kakashi while Naruto looked rapidly between Sasuke and Kagome. Kakashi stared at Kagome, he could see the shock and fear in her eyes. He removed the kunai from Sasuke's throat.

"That's what will happen," Kakashi said.

Everyone released a breath of relief. Kagome, however, remained tense. That may have just been an example, but Kakashi was right. That is just one of the situations that she and her team could get into if they weren't careful. She realized at that moment that she wouldn't have known what to do. She would have been too scared to do anything. She snapped out of those thoughts when Kakashi spoke again.

"After someone has been taken hostage, you will be faced with a difficult decision, and someone will die," Kakashi released Sasuke and walked toward a special monument on the training ground. "Look at this...the numerous names carved into this stone. All these names are those praised as heroes in this village."

Naruto looked at him in confusion. He didn't remember his mom ever telling him about a rock of heroes. "Heroes?"

"These aren't normal heroes. These are the K.I.A."

"K.I.A.?" asked Kagome.

Sakura gave her a sad look, "Those who were Killed in Action..."

Kakashi nodded his head, "This is a cenotaph. The names of my friends are carved in here as well."

None of the genin said a thing, feeling that it was not a moment for them to speak.

Kakashi glanced at them, "I'll give you one more chance. However, the battle for the bell will be much harsher. Eat lunch only if you are up for the challenge, but don't let Naruto eat. This is punishment for breaking the rules and trying to eat early. If anyone feeds him, they will get an automatic fail!"

He handed out a lunch to Sasuke and Kagome.

Sakura blinked when her sensei turned to walk away, "Um...sensei? What about me?"

Kakashi looked back at her, realization hitting him. "That's right, I forgot." He approached his team again, this time his eyes only on Sakura. "You, Haruno Sakura, showed the worst effort in getting the bells and for that you are prohibited from becoming a shinobi."

"What?" Sakura queried. Beside her, Kagome, Naruto and even Sasuke were staring at Kakashi in surprise, "Yo-you can be serious..."

"Oh I am very serious, Sakura." He held out his hand. "Now hand over your hitai-ate, you will no longer need it as of now."

A tense silence reeled over them as Sakura slowly lifted her hands to the knot on her headband. Before her hand could touch the cloth, someone else ripped off their hitai-ate and placed it in Kakashi's hand. Everyone stared at him in surprise.

"Sasuke...kun?" Sakura dropped her hands and stared at Sasuke in shock. He was giving up his spot on the team...for her?

"Tch, don't think too much on this," Sasuke stared Kakashi in the eye, his onyx eyes clashing with Kakashis. "You said we need teamwork? Well then there's my hitai-ate. I'll sacrifice myself for her because that's what teammates do."

No one, Kagome especially, could believe what Sasuke was saying.

Never, never in her life had she heard Sasuke say something like this. During the time at the Academy, Sasuke had showed the worst effort in anything that had to do with working in a group. It was for that reason that she was able to graduate as Rookie of the Year. Had he been able to do that then he would have easily beaten her in the race to gain that title of Rookie of the Year.

But he hadn't!

So why? He couldn't possibly be taking Kakashi's warning to heart, right? This was Uchiha Sasuke, Mr. Im-Better-Than-Thou-Uchiha! His name silently slipped through her lips, but no one took notice. Everyone was still focused on Sasuke and Kakashi.

Kakashi smiled and tied Sasuke's hitai-ate back on his forehead. "Congratulations, Sasuke. You and your teammates to try to get the bells again." Kakashi poofed away.

In his place was another bento box. Sasuke grabbed it and passed it to Sakura, "Here, let's eat now."

Only a few minutes into eating, Naruto's stomach let out a loud growl. From the corner of her eye, Kagome could see Sasuke silently sigh and, with a contemplative look, stare at his bento and then back to Naruto. Kagome narrowed her eyes, knowing what he wanted to do but curious about why he was going to do it. Hadn't Naruto just been insulting him earlier? Wasn't he still angry? Kagome took the Uchiha as the grudge-holding type. She couldn't have been wrong...right?

Just as Sasuke started to turn to Naruto, Kagome rushed in front of him and offered her food to Naruto.

"Kagome-chan, Sensei just said-"

"She's doing the right thing, Sakura." She turned to Sasuke in time to see him putting a little more of his food into Kagome's box. He knew that Kagome liked the dobe so it would be best to just let her feed him. "I don't sense Kakashi around either, so don't worry about him. Just focus on a plan to get the bells. If all four of us are going after it again, then it will be trouble if he's hungry."

Sakura stared at her own bento box as Kagome knelt in front of Naruto to feed him. Sakura joined her and used her chopsticks to offer him some rice. When Naruto took the rice from Sakura, Kagome slightly frowned though it went unnoticed by both Sakura and Naruto. It seemed only Sasuke noticed, but didn't say anything.

The moment Naruto swallowed, a loud puff of smoke appeared.

Kakashi stepped out of the smoke, anger being the most prominent emotion on his face, "You four!" Each of them, beside Sasuke, screamed in fright as the wind picked up around them. "You four broke the rules! Are you ready for the punishment?" He did a couple hand-seals and, in no less than a second, the once-blue sky turned dark, lightning flashing across it. "Any last words?"

The ground shook. Naruto squirmed around in his bindings, fear starting to claw its way into his mind. "But...but...but, you said...that's why they!"

Sasuke narrowed his eyes, now understanding what Naruto was trying to say. "We're a four-man team, right?"

Sakura and Kagome glanced at each other in realization and in unison, said, "Yeah! We four are one!"

"Yeah, yeah, yeah! That's right!" yelled Naruto as Kakashi walked closer to them.

"You four are one, eh?" They held their ground as Kakashi looked them over, his eye still holding some anger. Kakashi suddenly smiled, catching them off guard. "You pass."

"Eh!" Confusion filled them.

"You. Pass."

Sakura stood up rapidly. "Pass? Why?"

Kakashi stared at them again, pride having replaced his earlier "anger". "You four are the first to pass. People that I had previously were blockheads who listened to what I said." He gave them a serious look when he spoke again. "Ninjas need to see underneath the underneath. In the world of ninjas, those who break the rules are called scum. But you know what? Those who don't take care of their friends are even worse scum."

At this, each of them sported different reactions. Sakura grinned in happiness, Sasuke smirked in pride, Kagome smiled, secretly agreeing with Naruto, and Naruto...

His eyes filled with tears as he looked at his sensei in a new light, "He...he's kind of cool!"

"The training ends here, everyone passes!" he gave them a thumbs up, "Team Seven will start doing missions tomorrow!"

Sakura gave a happy, "Yes, sir!" while Sasuke and Kagome smirked in satisfaction.

Naruto chanted over and over, "I did it, I'm a ninja, ninja, ninja. I'm a ninja!"

Kakashi smiled along with his team. _Team Seven huh? I wonder how you four will do..._He looked over the laughing team. _I guess only time will tell._

_

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_

Alright, first matter of business: lets all thank my beta _Persephonae _for beta-ing!

Second matter of business:...I don't think there is another matter of business...?

Updated on December 24, 2010


	6. Enemies

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**Chapter Six**

_Enemies_

_Maybe this hadn't been the best idea._

That was the only thing running throughout his mind as Kakashi stared at his newest client. From the moment they laid eyes on him, the old man—Tazuna, as Kakashi recalled him saying—had given them the worst first impression. He was dirty, smelling of not only alcohol but also of some unidentifiable trash, clothes ruffled and wrinkled and even worst; he was still drinking a bottle of sake while calling **his** four genin lousy-looking.

Horrible first impression!

While walking to the village gates, the old man in front still yapping about having a lousy escort team despite having not seen their skill yet, Kagome and Sakura had stuck close to their team leader, not wanting to be anywhere near the drunk man. He would like to say he hadn't been eavesdropping on the young women, but there wasn't another name for it besides snooping, and Kakashi decided that snooping was worse than eavesdropping.

"Maybe's he's not all that bad when he's not drunk..." Kagome had said. Sakura and, mentally, Kakashi as well, had given her a look of disbelief. "What? You can't blame me for wanting to give the old man the benefit of the doubt. Maybe he's just really stressed; he did say he was building a bridge. That can't be a simple feat by itself."

"Well...I guess you're right about that but still! The least he could do was be presentable...or not smell." The girls had shared a laugh at that. What Kagome had said stuck in his mind and somewhere in there, he considered it to be part of her personality.

While he didn't know Saiketsu Kagome well, he had a feeling she was a little too kind-hearted on those whom she considered weaker then than herself—most likely a trait she picked up from her cold-hearted mercenary brothers. Still, for a mercenary-for a shinobi-she was very...kind. A soft heart is what some shinobi would call her. A bad trait for any shinobi.

However, Kakashi had been trained by Minato, who in turned was trained by Jiraiya, and he firmly believed in kids staying kids for as long as they could. Kakashi could state that he, too shared his sensei's belief but now that Konoha was no longer in war, he also felt that this was the time to put a little more pressure on genin. There was usually at least one prodigy for every generation, but this one had failed to produce one. Sure, there was Sasuke and Kagome who had both come close, heck even the Hyuuga girl had come close, but none of them quite met the standard.

It just seemed like this batch of genin wasn't going to produce the greatness that the generations before had made. It certainly seemed like no one was going to pass his, Uchiha Itachi or even Namikaze Minato's score as one of the most renown prodigies Konoha ever produced.

Maybe he was being too critical, though.

He looked over his genin, who were once again arguing with not only each other but also with Tazuna.

"Alright, alright. Let's stop the fighting and focus more on the mission."

They quieted down but he only got an enthusiastic and disappointed, "Hai, sensei!" from Naruto and Sakura, respectively.

For a few minutes, they only walked in silence. Sakura asked questions every now and then about the Land of Waves, but other than that, their trek through the forest was peaceful. At least, it had seemed that way until Kakashi not only saw but smelled something.

Having been in ANBU at one point and having experienced the war, Kakashi knew what death smelled like. It was a smell that just clung to the back of his throat the moment he first smelled it. He had no way to describe the horrible stench, but even now, he hated that smell of it. Therefore, it was fairly easy for Kakashi to identify the smell of a body that had been out for too long. Normally, he wouldn't have focused so much on it as there were tons of people who died everyday by rouge shinobi or bandits-so no; this wasn't what was putting him on edge. What bothered him most was, was the fact that coming up was a simple and for all appearance sake, an innocent puddle.

It hadn't rained in weeks however, so Kakashi knew this had to be one of two things: a laid out trap or spilled water. Kakashi really doubted it was the latter of the two, though he didn't mention anything as they walked past the puddle. He switched positions himself with a shadow clone. If, for nothing else, he at least needed to identify and dispose of the body.

It didn't take him long to reach the decaying body, but when he did, well, Kakashi was just glad that he was a veteran shinobi. The body or really, bodies-There was simply too much blood and flesh to be just one person. The bodies were cut apart, flies and rats already taking advantage of the mounds of meat left behind.

It took a while, to sort through some the body parts, but Kakashi wasn't worried about his team. He couldn't sense anybody in the area, so they would be fine without him. He would be able to catch up to them by the time they reached the dock.

After maybe half an hour, he found something that interested him. Looking over the body parts he found that While it had originally appeared that the bodies were just simply torn apart, he realized that wasn't the case.

A careful inspection of the bodies revealed that the two bodies had something in common: both had poison in their blood streams. Not only that, but the bodies also looked like they were cut with something jagged, like a carefully crafted sword or a sickle. Either way, whoever did this didn't care how, just as long as he got his kill.

Kicking one of the bodies lightly with his shoe, he watched with disgust as a cloud of flies rose out of the decaying flesh. He must have disturbed their newest breeding ground. Watching as the small bugs flew out, Kakashi noticed something strange: some of these bugs, they weren't flies at all. Instead, these other small creatures were bees, or more precisely, wasps. Having worked with a few Aburame, himself, Kakashi knew a thing or two about bugs. For one thing, wasps were not known for eating or breeding in flesh; it simply wasn't in their nature.

He didn't have time to dwell on that information as a memory hit him, leaving a loud scream ringing in his mind: "GET DOWN!"

* * *

It was with a reluctant sigh that Kagome followed her team. It wasn't because she didn't like their missions, it was just that—

"I refuse to believe that this orange-clad idiot is a ninja, much less two great Hokages' son!"

Kagome felt her eye twitch as her newest client continued to blab on and on. You would think that someone as old as him would take a hint that it was not a good idea to speak ill of Naruto. Obviously, the old man was just that—a very old man who lost his senses with the age.

She was starting to regret giving him the benefit of the doubt.

She looked over at Kakashi who just flipped another page in his book. Her gaze rested on its orange hard cover. The very book that had caught her attention when she first read it. She could still remember the very day that she had picked up the book from a shelf among many. At first, it had just been the color of the book that attracted her. Then, her young eyes had caught something on the cover of the book: the age limit.

At that time, she had grinned and opened up the book to simply skim it, but something happened. She saw the illustration on the first page. For a book that was supposedly for age 18+, the picture didn't seem bad at all. In fact, the picture was of a girl, hand stretched out, trying to grab onto the billowing shirt of the male.

Nothing bad about that.

So, curious as she was, she started reading it.

She was captivated by the very first sentence: _The first time I met him, I was mesmerized. It was those eyes, something in those dazzling eyes._

She hadn't been able to buy the book, but luckily for her, her brothers were going to be staying in that town for a while. She snuck her way into the private store just to read the book until closing time every day. Sure, there were passages that embarrassed her beyond belief because of its mature content but that book was simply amazing and so well written that on the day of the Band of Seven's departure, Kagome stole the book without a guilty conscience.

It wasn't just because of the writing that had her so in awe with the book, either. It was also due to the fact that she had just learned how to read. Her brothers had never deemed it important until they saw that she couldn't tell the difference between the men and women's bathroom. It may have been late to teach her, but she had picked it up quickly, very quickly according to her brothers.

After learning her new skill, Kagome had set out to use it. Almost immediately, she found the small store with books lining the shelves. With each book that she passed, she wanted to grab and read it. She controlled the strong desire and delved deeper into the store, wanting to find the perfect first book.

It was then that she spotted the hidden orange book that, even to this day, she couldn't get enough of simply because it was her first book. Even if others were disgusted with her type of literature, she would forever love the book.

So captivated with her thoughts, as were the other genin, they each failed to notice their sensei slipping off and replacing himself with a clone. Though, that's not to say that they would have noticed even without being distracted. This was Hatake Kakashi, after all.

Kagome moved her gaze away from Kakashi's book-formally hers-and glanced at each of her teammates. Sasuke and Naruto were goading each other on while Sakura cheered for Sasuke.

Looking at each of them, Kagome wondered what Kakashi saw in them that made him pass them as a good team. She was curious about what he saw because, to her, she only saw a couple of kids with bad pasts, strapped together. She and Sasuke didn't get along. Sasuke was always arguing with Naruto, Sakura couldn't work with Naruto, and Naruto liked Sakura, who in turn liked Sasuke. Honestly, what anybody saw in their team, she would never know.

Kagome could admit, with without hesitation, that she honestly didn't trust anybody on her team. Sure she liked Naruto, but even she wouldn't entrust him with her life. Maybe this was a cruel thing to say, but her brothers had taught her to be this way because it was apparently "the way of a mercenary". She didn't fully understand this, but if her brothers said that she shouldn't-couldn't trust anybody else but her brothers, then so be it.

Her brothers were always right.

Some would say that she was putting too much trust in them, but they didn't know her brothers as she did. Nobody knew her brothers, the Legendary Band of Seven, like her. Nobody wanted to know them and that was where the distrust stemmed from. Why should they, the "evil mercenaries", bother to trust others when they were just going to judge them right off the bat?

Feeling her anger slowly rising, Kagome breathed calmly and focused her thoughts on her team.

_Team Seven...I will never understand them, _Kagome thought with resentment. Her hands clenched as she watched them tease and mock each other, none of them bothering to be on guard for unexpected attackers. They were childish to think that no one would attack them just because they were genin—if that thought even occurred to them at all. Kagome glanced to the ground and mentally scoffed at herself. _Who am I to judge? I am not on guard either...but I've never had to be on guard. My brothers have always protected me._

Her nails dug into her palms. _Bankotsu-nii said that Konoha will expect me to trust my team but...he has always said not to trust anyone but my own kin. So what do I do? Do I trust them, Team Seven, or do I push them away? _Her light gray eyes narrowed in confusion. _What do I do?_

"Kagome-chan?" She snapped her head up at the call of her name, her body unwillingly relaxing. Sakura was walking beside her with a look of concern. Kagome looked toward Naruto and Sasuke to see them arguing because apparently Sasuke pushed Naruto into a puddle. She looked back to see water scattered about and she shook her head at their fighting. Sakura brought Kagome's attention back to her after a few seconds. "Kagome-chan, are you okay? You've been really quiet."

Kagome gave her a reassuring smile. "I'm fine Sakura-chan. I was just thinking that this is the first time we have ever left Konoha's walls." She easily lied through her teeth.

The old man snorted at that comment, not at all liking it but each of the genin ignored him, each of their focus now on this new conversation.

"Hey, Kagome-chan?" Naruto faced her while walking backward, his arms on the back of his head as he looked at her with curiosity. Kagome was sure that if Naruto wasn't careful he would surely trip. "I thought you didn't live in Konoha before."

"I didn't-"

"So this isn't your first time outside of Konoha!"

Kagome nodded her head, her cheeks stained with pink as even the old man and Kakashi gave her interested stares. "I...well, you're right; I didn't used to live in Konoha. But I was really little so I don't remember much," she said with a slight waver of her voice while increasing her pace so that she was now in front of her team and client.

_I can't tell them about my past. I won't! _She clenched her teeth. _How dare they even ask me such a personal question!_

Nobody said anything after that. They were naïve but not so much that they couldn't see that that question for one reason or another upset Kagome.

Tazuna cleared his throat after what seemed like hours. When he saw that he had everyone's attention and the tension in the air had cleared a bit, he spoke, "We're about to reach the docks, so it'd be best if everyone stay quiet now." He pointedly stared at Naruto, who chuckled nervously.

Kagome rolled her eyes at his embarrassment. Suddenly, Naruto lost all amusement and hastily threw a kunai toward some shrubs. Immediately they were all on guard.

Seconds of nothing happening and Sakura turned furious eyes toward the now confused Naruto. "YOU BAKA! YOU SCARED ALL OF US WITH THAT!" Her yells were only amplified as Tazuna joined her in berating Naruto.

Kagome and Sasuke walked over to where Naruto's kunai landed and pushed apart the bushes only to discover a white rabbit pressed against a tree, between its ears was Narutos kunai. Kagome grabbed the rabbit while Sasuke pulled out the kunai. Kagome walked over to Naruto and handed him his "victim" which he promptly smothered with heartfelt apologies.

It was when she was shaking her head with disbelief that she saw it: the shining metal spinning at intense speeds heading straight for them. Her body reacted on its own as she pushed Naruto down and yelled, "GET DOWN!"

Several noises played around the now-silent forest.

Sasuke was the first to stand back up. While Sakura slowly stood up, helping Tazuna to stand, Kagome and Naruto moved away from each other. Sasuke saw something. He grimaced and turned away from the sight.

Kagome pushed herself off Naruto and focused her attention on the giant blade stuck in the tree. Had she looked at Naruto, she would have seen his awe at her saving him but her attention was entirely on the man standing on the blade that had almost killed them all. Kagome stood up when Sasuke summoned a weapon, his Fuuma Shuriken.

"Saiketsu..." Kagome looked away from the blade to Sasuke, only to see him glance in one direction than back to her. She got the message. She looked at what he wanted her to see.

She made no sound but Sakura and Naruto's scream of "Kakashi-sensei!" was more than enough. There, not too far from where they landed when they jumped away, was Kakashi's body. A few feet away, his head rolled.

"Who are you?" Kagome glared at the man staring down at them from behind her bangs. She was trembling, she knew. It wasn't only because she had lost her sensei, but also because of the deep hatred that was curling and bubbling in her stomach. She only slightly registered the fact that Sasuke stepped closer to her while Naruto and Sakura took out kunais and stood defensively in front of Tazuna.

"How's about we make a deal now that your sensei's gone, huh?"

"How's about you tell us your name before we kill you?" Kagome threw back at him, making him chuckle. A small growl escaped her mouth. It stopped just as quickly by the blade pressing against her throat.

"Kagome, Sasuke!" Naruto was just about to rush forward, intent on saving his two friends who were being held hostage by the mysterious man when Sasuke threw his Fuuma shuriken at him, though it missed completely.

"What?"

Another sinister chuckle left the bandaged mouth. His hand pressed the sharpened metal closer to Sasuke and Kagome's throat—the blade long enough to keep them both from running. He stared into Naruto's angry eyes and talked with a purr, "Now, about that deal. I think we can come to a fair trade, don't you, Shorty?" Naruto clenched his fists. "You get your little teammates back and you give me that old man there."

Naruto froze.

"Naruto, don't listen to him! Remember Shinobi Rule Number Four: A shinobi must always put the mission first!" Kagome lifted her neck when her captor's blade slightly sliced through her flesh "So do-"

"Im sorry..." Naruto was staring at the ground with a solemn look, his teeth biting into his lip. He looked at Sakura. "Grab Tazuna, we're trading." Tazuna gasped in fear and took a couple steps back, but Sakura threw a kunai in front of him, causing him to fall on his back.

"Sakura, Naruto, stop!" Kagome's look was filled with shock as she met Naruto's determined ones.

"No, Kagome...Kakashi-sensei said that teammates don't abandon each other!"

"I'm positive that he didn't mean like this!" Kagome turned her head toward the silent Uchiha. "Uchiha, tell them something! Help me stop them!"

Sasuke gulped a bit and lifted his head a bit higher. "If you didn't notice, Saiketsu, we are hostages and I'm pretty sure we shouldn't say anything while a blade stands between us having our head on our shoulders or rolling on the floor."

_Coward! _Is what she would have said out loud had there not been a large butcher-like knife against her throat.

Sakura glanced at both them and Tazuna. She gulped and turned to Naruto, "I-I don't know about this, Naruto...what if Kagome-chan is right? Then Kakashi-sensei would have been really disappointed in us..."

"Kakashi-sensei said that abandoning your teammates makes you worse than scum and...and I don't want to give up two of my friends for an old geezer who disrespects everything we stand for, everything Kakashi-sensei stood for!" Naruto locked gazes with their enemy. "But I'm not handing the old man over until we get Sasuke and Kagome first!" Naruto turned quickly when he heard Sakura and Tazuna yelp.

"The Demon of the Mist, Zabuza, takes orders from no one, especially not a wanna-be-ninja!" Zabuza smirked and tightened his grip around his sword. "Any sudden movements, gaki, and all of your friends get it."

Naruto's eyes dilated when Sakura gasped for air, the hand that wrapped around her throat tightened.

"Let go of Sakura-chan! Now!"

Zabuza's smirk widened while he nodded to his clone. "Didn't I just say that no harmless brat is going to order me around?" The bandages around the former mist-nin stretched as he grinned. Hearing the pinkette let out a whimper and her teammates crying out for her only served to amuse him.

His amusement didn't last long.

For the newly made genin, things happened in slow motion: one moment Zabuza was holding Kagome and Sasuke hostage with sword, his clone gripping Sakura's throat, and in the next second, another Zabuza flew out from the forest, several trees crashing down with him. When Zabuza landed, wounded and bloody, the clones holding everyone hostage splashed to the floor.

Sasuke didn't waste a moment in grabbing a shocked Kagome and joining Naruto. When each of them were together and standing again, they huddled around Tazuna—who was now feeling wary about being protected by the group of young ninja. They easily formed the swastika formation, now ready to protect Tazuna.

Sasuke shifted his eyes from the panting Zabuza to Naruto. His voice came out soft, so as not to not attract attention. "You were lucky this time, Naruto." Naruto slowly nodded his head. Beside him, Sakura and Kagome looked at them in confusion.

Sakura asked the unknown question: "What are you talking about, Sasuke-kun?"

Sasuke paused. "Naruto wasn't really going to hand over Tazuna. He was waiting for Zabuza to hand us over and then he would have used his Kage Bunshin as a distraction so we could run." Kagome blinked. How did he know this when Naruto hadn't said anything about escape plans? She didn't hesitate in asking them such.

"My mother," Naruto started, "She gives me and Sasuke lectures on what to do should we ever get in certain situations. Usually I don't listen, but that day...she wanted me to know how to escape in any situation. That was the only time I've ever seen her so...so serious about her lectures." Naruto didn't see Sasuke's guilty look.

He knew exactly why Kushina had been adamant about Naruto learning to escape. He had asked his mother soon after Kushina's lessons were over, and her answer had shocked Sasuke to his core. Kushina was afraid that Konoha's Council would try to execute Naruto or have him become an emotionless killing machine for the village. If the Council did make an attempt on his life, and she could not be there to save him, Kushina wanted Naruto to know how to escape. It was later that she became Hokage, if only to keep the Council away from her son.

Sasuke hadn't been sure what to think about this. He _still_ wasn't sure. From what he could remember, the Academy had always taught them that the Hokage and Council were doing everything for the village. Yet...to want execute Naruto, simply because he was the container for the Kyuubi. It didn't seem right, especially since the last two containers were heroes to the village. It wasn't until the moment the Kyuubi was set free, subsequently destroying the village, that everyone in Konoha scorned jinchuurikis for what they were: monsters.

Sasuke was jarred from his thoughts when a man—one Sasuke hadn't noticed arrive until now—changed his arm into a large spear and forcibly jammed it through Zabuza's stomach. Sasuke unconsciously activated his Sharingan, the one tomoe spinning rapidly as Zabuza weaved through a pair of hand seals.

It didn't take long for the clearing to fill with mist.

* * *

Kushina sighed while letting her stamp roll out of her hand. She knew that Tazuna was not being honest when he said this was a simple C-rank mission. Whenever a village is conquered, the Five Great Nations are one of the first to find out. She, just like every other kage, sent out her shinobi to discover exactly who took over, how much power they held, and what they were planning on doing.

She knew it wasn't a good idea, but the Council had said they wanted Team Seven to complete the mission. They said it was simply to keep the group from looking suspicious, but Kushina had a hunch that this was an attempt to get to rid of Kagome. Whatever the reason, she had allowed it, and now she felt nothing but guilt and regret.

What if something did happen during the mission? What if Kakashi wasn't there in time to help the new genins? There were just too many things that could go wrong, and she had allowed it.

Then again, she, just like every other Hokage before her, knew that she couldn't put up a fight with the Council. Not when they held a lot of power in the village. A lot of civilians, as well as shinobi, would see an attempt to overthrow them as mutiny.

Kushina let out another sigh. She really hated being Hokage, and, for once, she couldn't understand Minato. She couldn't understand why he loved being the Hokage so much. How could he love it so much that he was willing to give up his life for it?

She felt herself tear up as she looked out the window to glance at the Kage Monument. Minato's face seemed to be glowing as the sun beams danced around his stony visage.

_Minato..._

* * *

By the time he arrived to the scene, his hitai-ate was already lifted from his left eye. The three tomoes spun angrily; the bright crimson only helping to assent the deep rage that its owner felt.

He hadn't been gone for long, and he told himself that his genin were strong enough to take care of themselves, but he was wrong. Oh, he was so wrong.

When Kakashi reached the clearing, he arrived just in time to see Sasuke release a large Katon Jutsu. Kakashi was quick to move to another tree before he caught on fire. Doing a quick scan, Kakashi's Sharingan eye caught exactly what Sasuke was trying to keep away. A man with long dark hair and dark brown eyes stood just beyond the fire's reach. Kakashi narrowed his eyes when the unknown enemy smirked and raised one arm up. Each of his genin tensed and Kakashi soon learned why.

In the span of just a few seconds, the raised arm quickly turned into a large sword-like weapon. Behind the man, several tentacle-like things whipped around. The enemy threw out his arm, surprising Kakashi when it extended. He jonin jumped in front of genin and blocked the strangely sharp arm with a kunai. Behind him, everyone gasped.

"Kakashi-sensei!" Sasuke stood by a tired Kagome as Naruto and Sakura ran closer to Kakashi. They had known for a while that Kakashi wasn't dead mainly because "his body" had poofed back into wood when Zabuza had run away. It hadn't exactly comforted them that their sensei had run away, though, apparently, that truly hadn't been the case.

Sasuke glanced at Kagome before returning his view to a fighting Kakashi. He and Kagome had been fighting since the moment Zabuza ran away into the mist. Kagome had tired quickly, mostly because they discovered that whoever this man was, he wanted Kagome and so he focused most of his attacks on her.

Sasuke slowly began relaxing when Kakashi used a Suiton: Suiryudan no Jutsu to throw the enemy into the river.

That momentary peace was shattered when an extended arm rose out of the water and, with unseen speed, grabbed Kagome. Kagome yelped and clawed at the ground, though the arm proved to be stronger, dragging her closer to now-raging river. Naruto reached his hand out, his fingertips touching hers. But before he could curl his hand around hers, Kagome was dragged completely under the water.

Naruto screamed, "Kagome!"

She kicked and struggled against the arm holding her, but even that proved useless against this unknown enemy. Looking up at the top of the water, Kagome could faintly see the sun. Question after question bombarded her mind as she slowly sank deeper into the dark water. Why was this man going after her? Why had he called her Kikyou? Why was this happening to her?

None of her questions were answered and, soon, it no longer mattered. Kagome released some of her precious air in fright as the man that grabbed her ankle promptly pushed her against his chest. Her fear however, was aimed at something else, something far more frightening: the man's face was literally melting off!

Kagome punched the unknown enemy's chest repeatedly, though even she could tell, her "punches" were nothing but gentle taps to the guy.

Something began rising from behind his back, causing her to stop struggling to look at it. Her eyes widened. The man let go of her as a Kakashi rammed a kunai into his arm. He didn't stop there, though; Kakashi used the kunai to cut the man's arm off completely off. Letting go of the blade, Kakashi swam to Kagome, grabbed her around the waist, and pulled her to the surface. She coughed up water once they broke through the water and greedily sucked in air.

Naruto ran to Kagome when Kakashi deposited her on the shoreline of the river. Kakashi, however, ignored Naruto's presence as he scoped the river's surface top. He doubted that this enemy was through with them. _If that kekkai genkai allowed him to change his arms into weapons, than I doubt removing an arm will really do anything. _Kakashi took a moment to glance at Kagome before returning his gaze to the waters. _Why is Kagome the __target__?_

Suddenly, something shot out of the water and landed on the other side of the clearing. Kakashi narrowed his eyes when he saw both arms again. It would seem he was right about this enemy and his kekkai. They were going to have to tread carefully when it came to this man. With his back toward them, Kakashi couldn't see the enemy's expression, but he had a feeling that the man was not happy about losing his prize.

He took a stance as their enemy chuckled. "You...you are all interfering with my plans," The man slightly turned his head to look at them. "Muso is my name and I WILL HAVE KIKYOU!" Tentacles shot out from his back and aimed towards them.

Kakashi's took a stance, his hands began to go through a set of hand seals when he heard Naruto gasp. Kakashi had only taken his eyes off of the enemy for a second but that second was all he needed to attack them.

"You should never take your eyes off the enemy!" All but two tentacles retreated into the man but the two that continued changed to blades and aimed straight for Kakashi.

"Kakashi-sensei!"

Blood dripped to the ground as the blades ripped through flesh. Kakashi's eyes widened, the only response he was able to make.

In front of him, Kagome panted harshly, the blades slowly sliding out of her shoulders. Nobody made a move or said a thing as Kagome grunted when the blades were pulled free. However, when one of the blades unexpectedly turned back into a hand and grabbed Kagome, movement ensued, though none of them were quick enough to rescue the young Saiketsu.

"What...what do you want...from me?" Kagome managed to mutter out, the pain more prominent, now, that he had dragged her across the ground.

"I WANT YOU DEAD, KIKYOU!" Muso suddenly yelled out.

Before the man could ram the now bladed arm into her, Kagome stuck her hand in his face, a burst of purple light flaring from her palm. Dropping Kagome, Muso cried out and clenched his face in pain.

Kagome quickly stood up, ready to turn around and run. The world around her spun however, and just as she was about to fall, Kakashi caught her. Looking at him, Kagome mentally winced. She could see it in the way he was looking at her. He knew what she did was not a jutsu. It was a kekkai genkai.

There was bound to be questions later.

Kakashi asked nothing as he watched Kagome's eyes close. He glanced back up when he heard Sakura gasp. Muso, who had once been crying out in pain, was now motionless on the ground, his body burning with an unusual flame. Once there was nothing but ash, a small wasp flew out and landed on the outstretched hand of someone in the shadows.

Everyone tensed at the prospect of another enemy.

They all watched as red eyes revealed themselves from the shadows. The unknown person said nothing as the wasp climbed up his hand and, in a flash of blue, absorbed into his body. A small chuckle came from him and, in a cloud of purple smoke, he disappeared.

When Kakashi was sure that no one was in the area anymore, he lifted the unconscious Kagome and looked back to his team and Tazuna. Other than Tazuna being absolutely frightened and his genins being tired, everyone seemed fine.

He called out, "Let's get going, Kagome needs to be treated for the poison, and we don't have the best surroundings for that."

Each of them nodded and hurriedly followed Kakashi.

Kakashi looked down at the unconscious Kagome. _What was that kekkai genkai? I know that no one in the Band of Seven holds a kekkai, __so how do you? __I suppose I was right about you, __Saiketsu Kagome. You really are a mystery._

_

* * *

_

Let us all thank my Beat Persephonae for beta-ing this!

I know this is kinda unexpected, after all, I already uploaded chp. 6 before right? I deleted the old chapter six and uploaded the new one so that everyone could be alerted to the fact that I finally finished revising my old chapters. I hope everyone enjoys the new chapters and to my older followers, I do hope that you leave me a review or PM, just so I can know that you are still there. Anyway, I think I'm done with this note. Merry Christmas Everyone!

Updated on December 24, 2010


	7. Early Recollections

**.**

**.**

**.**

**Chapter Seven**

_Early Recollections_

Naruto stared at Kagome's face, his eyes not moving from her as Sakura cleaned up the food dishes around him. Sakura only gave him a solemn glance before picking up the dishes and leaving the room. When the door closed, Naruto flinched.

Everything—every sound—it was all so loud. Was it because he was feeling responsible for what happened to her? When Kagome let out another deafening moan of pain, Naruto glanced away, guilt and disappointment surging through him. He furiously wiped his eyes with his sleeve when he felt them start to water. No matter what, he was not going to cry. His mother said there was no shame in crying for someone important, but Kagome was still alive. There's no need for him to become so emotional when Kagome was right in front of him, alive and breathing.

_She's fine! Everyone's fine! _He repeated this to himself several times while clenching his teeth. _It doesn't matter if she's fine...she wouldn't be __like this __if I had been faster! I'm so sorry__,__ Kagome-chan...I was scared and I didn't react fast enough._

Naruto watched as Kagome turned a bit in her sleep. It only looked like she was sleeping, but the bandages around her torso reminded him of her injury. He felt the guilt creep back into him. How had he failed? If he had been faster; if he had grasped Kagome's hand when she reached for him, then she wouldn't be like this. She had relied on him in that moment and he had failed. What kind of teammate was he? He couldn't even protect one friend. How was he ever going to become Hokage like that?

_A Hokage who couldn't save one friend._ Naruto wanted to scoff at the thought of something so ridiculous. He suddenly blinked. Looking down at his palms, he was startled to find blood seeping out of the crescent-shaped wounds. The blood slowly trickled down his palm and he watched, almost enraptured by the crimson color, as the droplet of blood dripped from his palm to splash on Kagome's cheek. Seeing the blood on her cheek, his eyes clouded as he was drawn back into his early childhood memories.

.0.

_Naruto stared at the small fight happening before him. The normal kids had been picking on him, and, while normally, he would have gladly stood up for himself. __Not today. Today...__he felt he deserved it. They had initially started with teasing, but when they noticed his weakened demeanor, their sadistic __side took over__. They__ began __mocking him, __casting blame and yelling__. It was when one of the kids picked up a stone and threw it at him that she appeared._

_She blocked the rock with her body and as it hit her back, he could see her eyes close __from the __pain. __Seeing__ the unknown girl, the boys froze in shock. Never had anybody stood up for the demon boy, so...why was this weird girl helping?_

_"Hey girlie, get away from that __freak! He__ might hurt you, too, just like he does everyone else!" Naruto had wanted to glare at them, to tell them to shut up, but he didn't. They were right after all..._

_Still, the girl hadn't moved. She had opened her eyes, though, and Naruto found himself captivated by her light grey __irises__. It wasn't unusual to have colored irises like that __hers, __but Naruto had never seen such weirdly colored eyes. For a moment, they just stared at each other, neither saying a word nor paying full attention to the boys not too far from them._

_It was when one of the boys grabbed her by the shoulder, trying to move her away so they could get their target, when the unknown girl acted._

_She punched him__ squarely in __the nose. The boy released her, staggering __backward__ while clenching his nose._

_"Hibachi!"_

_The boy, Hibachi, let go of his nose to ball his__ fists __and glare at the girl. With his nose and mouth bloody like that, Naruto had to admit, __Hibachi __was __a scary __sight__._

_It was then that the fight started. Hibachi charged at the girl and toppled her over so he could punch her face. She had managed to turn over to throw him off, but Hibachi had dragged her back to the ground when she tried to stand._

_Naruto shut his eyes. Sasuke would be really mad at him right now, but, honestly, Naruto wasn't in the mood to care. He just wanted to be left alone. To him, it didn't matter if __Hibachi __and his crew bothered him again, but then this girl had to come! She just went and got herself in trouble even though she didn't know him. She had no prior obligation to him so why was she trying to save him?_

_"Hibachi!" Everyone, including the fighting pair, froze at the sound of a shrill yell. When his name was yelled again, but closer, Hibachi threw the girl off him and he ran over to his friends._

_"Come on guys, my mom's coming and if she __sees__ I hit a girl, __I'm__ gonna be in so much trouble!" As simple as that, the boys ran off, leaving a shocked Naruto and __a __silent girl._

_Naruto turned his eyes to the girl as she slowly__ rose__. As she stood, he could see every scrape, bruise, and cut she received__ protecting __him. When she glanced at him, Naruto winced at seeing the darkening black eye and small amount of blood that was sliding down her forehead. Yet, as she turned to him—covered head to toe in bruises—Naruto felt like he was looking at one of the strongest people in the world. Possibly one of the nicest, too._

_Even though she knew about him being a jinchuuriki, she didn't scorn him. She knew he was a monster and yet she defended him. She fought for him when he wouldn't fight back._

"_Are you gonna stare at me all day?" Naruto blinked as the girl plopped down next to him, staring at him with unhidden interest. "You know," the girl slightly pursed her lips, "It's kinda rude to ignore someone when__ they're __talking to you." Naruto opened his mouth to talk but nothing came out. The girl tilted her head to the side __out of __curiosity. "Don't you know how to talk?" she asked quietly._

_Naruto nodded his head quickly. Swallowing his nervousness, he opened his mouth again. "W-why did you defend me?" He had to know! Not many people would willingly defend him on their own. The girl closed her eyes contentedly and let out a small hum._

_"I did it cause I wanted to." Opening her eyes, she looked around. Upon seeing a patch of flowers, she grinned, leaned toward it, picked one, and sat by him again. "Can I ask you something?" Naruto nodded his head. "Why didn't you defend yourself? I know who your parents are, just like everyone else in the village, so I know that you gotta know some type of defensive jutsu...so why?"_

_He looked off to the side. Why did she have to ask that? He couldn't tell her that he deserved it; he just couldn't. Maybe two weeks ago he would have fought back; he would have made them regret laying even one hand on him, but now..._

_Naruto clenched his fists. If it hadn't been because of _**him**_ everything would still be the same. But that wasn't the case right now. His best friend, his __friend's__ mom and his own mother were stationed in the hospital __at the moment, __and it was only because of the kyuubi's healing abilities that he was out __the earliest__. He wished he had died, though._

_Thanks to _**him**_, Uchiha Itachi, he knew what happened during the kyuubi attack. He knew how the monster in him killed __shinobis__, civilians, families...__How the kyuubi attacked both his mother and father, killing the latter. _

_He had killed his own father..._

_He had almost killed his own mother, the one person who loved him beyond comparison. He didn't deserve her love..._

_A soft hand touching his cheek forced him out if his thoughts. Focusing on the person in front of him, Naruto watched silently as the girl wiped his tears away. He hadn't realized that he had been crying._

"_I didn't mean to make you cry." As the last of his tears were cleared away, the girl gave him an unsure smile. "You don't have to talk about it if you don't want to, but just so you know," she smiled brightly, "I'll always be here to listen."_

_Naruto looked at her __in __astonishment. Slowly, he lowered his head, his lip trembling. No one had ever been this nice to him in a long time._

_A flower was pushed under his nose._

_His nose twitched as the soft scent of the flower drifted to him. Looking up, he was met with the smiling face of the girl, her light grey eyes sparkling with happiness and, for some reason, __he just couldn't look away._

"_Do you know what this flower stands for?" At his negative answer, the girls smile brightened. "This is a daffodil and it stands for chivalry" The bridge of his nose wrinkled for a bit at her words. "I want you to have it cause you are my hero!"_

"_B-but I didn't save you..."_

_The girl took his hand, opened it, and lay the daffodil gently on his palm. "I know, but from now on, I'm going to be your friend. __One __day, I know that you will protect me like I did for you. So," She closed his fingers around the small flower and looked at him with another bright smile. "Take this as an early thank you present, 'cause I know that someday you will save me!"_

_Naruto took her other hand and stood up. A smile slowly stretched across his face. Looking at the small flower, he nodded determinedly. "YOU BET I'M GOING TO BE YOUR HERO ONE DAY, YOU JUST WAIT, DATTEBAYO!"_

_At his grin, hers, if possible, grew __wider __and both of them laughed._

_A voice suddenly rang out, making them stop and turn their head. "Kagome, where are you?"_

_The girl looked at Naruto and hugged him unexpectedly, making Naruto freeze in his spot, a small blush staining his cheeks. Besides his mother and Mikoto, no girl had ever hugged him. _"_M_y _brother is looking for me so I've got to go. __Bye!__" The girl turned and ran. Halfway to her brother, she suddenly stopped and looked back at him. She yelled out, "I NEVER GOT YOUR NAME!"_

_That's right..._

_He grinned widely. "I'M NAMIKAZE NARUTO!"_

"_SAIKETSU KAGOME, THAT'S MY NAME!" When she reached her brother, Kagome __gave him one last wave._

_Naruto looked back at the flower in his hand and twirled it a bit. So he was gonna be her hero one day? His smile softened and he gave Kagome's back a wistful look. Maybe...maybe he was being to hard on himself earlier. After all, nobody would hand their safety over to someone who was evil, __right?__ He wiped away the tears that were forming __in his eyes, __and looked down at the flower again._

_Knowing he was a hero to her made him feel...happy. Gave him hope._

.0.

Naruto pulled his sleeve up a bit and with it, he wiped away the drop of blood. When Kagome smiled a bit, so did Naruto. Even in her dreams, she smiled for him. Even though he did nothing to help her, she seemed perfectly content with him being near. Even though all he seemed to bring her was trouble...

"Naruto," Forced out of his thoughts, Naruto looked up to meet Kakashi's gaze. "You've been up here all day, go get some rest."

Naruto stood up quickly, "But Kakashi-sensei-!"

"Rest, Naruto!" Kakashi gave him a stern look when Naruto looked ready to say more. Naruto sighed with defeat.

"Hai, sensei..." Naruto gave Kagome one last regretful look before he stood and walked out of the room. Before he was out the door, Kakashi stopped him with a hand on his shoulder. Naruto glanced at his sensei.

"Don't worry about Kagome, she'll be just fine. Training to be a mercenary isn't easy, they get hurt a lot mostly because they hardly use ninjutsu. A mercenary relies heavily on their own personal strength and swordsmanship before their chakra levels." He looked at Kagome as she turned and sighed. "See? Kagome can move around without pain now. All she needs now is to wake up."

Naruto nodded. "Arigato sensei...I guess that kinda calms me down, but, still, what if that guy in the shadows comes back for Kagome-chan?"

Kakashi started to lead Naruto out the door, "Don't worry, Naruto, I'll get either Sakura or Sasuke to keep watch over Kagome now. You just get some rest; you need it."

Naruto grinned, now reassured that his friend would be okay without him around. "Alright!"

Kakashi smiled when Naruto turned to leave. It was nice to see that the bonds between teammates was already forming and strengthening.

* * *

Sakura rubbed her tired eyes and released a wide yawn. How Naruto stayed with Kagome for two days was a mystery to her. Just from midnight to sunrise and she was already tired. Her hand slowly fell from her eyes. She took in the amazing view of the sky as it was changing from its dark hue to a light pink. A small snore brought her attention to Kagome.

For just a moment, Sakura simply stared at Kagome's peaceful face. It was weird for her to see the normally hyperactive girl so silent and still. For as long as Sakura had known Kagome, she had never thought that she would see the girl so...motionless.

During the fight with the villain, Zabuza, Kagome had become hushed. Sure, she would have a witty comeback whenever their adversaries were trying to tempt them, but other than that, Kagome had stayed quiet. Sakura assumed it was because of Kakashi's fake death. She couldn't be sure, though, as she and Kagome were not close enough for her to be able to read the girl.

_Kagome-chan...she was so different at that moment. I think...I think even Naruto was a little shocked at her personality change. Then again, who wouldn't have wanted to get revenge for Kakashi-sensei's death? I know I did, but I just couldn't do anything. _Her fists clenched unconsciously. _I wanted to help so __badly __during the fight but...but I didn't. I turned out to be a liability because the only thing __I'm__ really good at is taijutsu—and that just barely. I would need to train for months before I reached Sango-chan's level._

Sakura sighed and looked away from Kagome, feeling a little depressed. If only there was some way she could help Kagome at least. Maybe then, she wouldn't feel so badly about everything.

Almost immediately, Sakura eyes caught a flash of orange. Her first thought had been Naruto, but that idea quickly vanished as she realized the orange object was far too small and rectangular to be Naruto. Plus, the orange-clad shinobi was sleeping quite soundly in his and Sasuke's room across from the room that she was currently inhabiting.

It only took a moment for the pink-haired girl to realize what she was looking at: Icha Icha Paradise. Sakura gave the book a long withering glare, but hearing Kagome give a small groan of pain, she got an idea. Slowly, she moved her body forward and reached out to grab the book. When her fingers were mere inches away from the book, her hand stopped with reluctance. She always berated Kagome about reading the book, but she wasn't blind. She could see that, for some reason, this book never failed to make Kagome happy.

Sakura could still remember the time, back when they were in the Academy, that Kagome had been depressed because one of her brothers had come home from a mission on the brink of death. Kagome had told them that if it wasn't for the medic-nin on call, then her brother wouldn't have made it. It was at that time that being a medic-nin entered Sakura's thoughts, it was the first time that she thought of her future as a kunoichi.

To a person who didn't know Kagome, they wouldn't have understood why the dark-haired girl fell back into depression, despite her brother being well. Sakura knew enough to recognize that Kagome was afraid of losing people. It wasn't the normal amount of fear that everyone felt—both shinobi and civilian. Kagome had this powerful fear for losing someone close to her. Sango, her, and Ino had decided that they hated seeing Kagome so...sad. They hated it so much that they did the most embarrassing thing ever: they used a simple genjutsu to disguise themselves as older men and they bought Kagome another Icha Icha Book.

They probably wouldn't have had to buy Kagome another book if it hadn't been for the fact that some months ago, Kagome dropped the book in a large rain puddle. She had mourned the loss of her favorite book for a good week.

When they did give the moody girl the new book, Kagome had laughed at them for going through the trouble of buying it, but she had happily accepted it in any case. Sakura could never be sure if it was the book that did it, but, soon after receiving it, the young Saiketsu had left her depression behind for good.

The green-eyed kunoichi gulped and let her dignity go for a second time as she grabbed the book. If it made her friend happy before, then Sakura would read it to her now that she was in pain. Normally, this wasn't part of her nature, but there were times—times like these—when her friends needed her, that Sakura showed her more caring side. The side of her that would do a lot to help someone that she considered important.

Kagome was the girl that defended her when Ino and Sango were not around, and she needed Sakura's help right now. She took in a deep breath and started reading.

"The first time I met him, I was mesmerized. It was those eyes, something in those dazzling eyes. Crimson eyes that glowed with such a strong fierceness. I knew it before I knew him; I wanted to be with this man forever. Call me crazy, but I just knew somehow. I never did get his name, but that was fine with me; we would begin working together in only a matter of days. I would have plenty of time to get to know this mystery man clad in black."

Sakura stopped for a moment to give the cover of the book a confused stare. The way her mother had given her such a long and harsh lecture about ever reading the filthy book that Kagome cherished, well, Sakura had just always assumed that the book was full of nothing but smut. It seemed that she was wrong, though. Then again, this was only the first passage but still.

Sakura sent Kagome's now peaceful face a smile. "I guess you win again, Kagome. I was wrong and you were right. This book...it isn't so bad—at least, not yet." Before the kunoichi could get back to the book, Kakashi walked in. "Can I help you Kakashi-sensei?"

Kakashi never replied, his attention focused solely on the orange covered book in the pink-haired kunoichi's grasp. When Sakura saw the focus of his interest, her face burned with embarrassment. Why did the embarrassing stuff always happen to her?

It was that thought that kept her from being surprised when her sensei asked the dreaded question. "Sakura...what are you doing with that book?"

For some reason, Sakura got the impression that Kakashi wouldn't believe her if she said told him the truth. "Oh, I was just reading this universally known smutty book to my unconscious female teammate because I figured that it would make her feel better." No, Kakashi-sensei would most certainly not believe her half-witted reason. Even if it was the truth.

Luckily for her, Kakashi wasn't in the mood to interrogate his student.

"I wont push you for an answer, Sakura, I just came here to inform you that Sasuke is going to take over watch at about noon. Is that clear?" It was a rhetorical question but Sakura agreed with him nonetheless. When he turned to leave, he paused for a moment, and, with his back still to her, he said, "I would suggest you stop reading before you get to Chapter Three. You won't need information like that until you get older."

He closed the door, leaving behind a tomato-faced Sakura, who promptly shut the book and stuffed it back into Kagome's bag.

_This is just great! Now Kakashi-sensei thinks _**_I'm _**_a pervert! That wasn't even my book, and if it was, I wouldn't be reading it in the public! _Sakura crossed her arms with a huff and looked back out the window, not realizing that, mentally, she just admitted to herself that she was being a pervert.

As Sakura looked out at the huge body of water, she remembered a slightly similar situation she was in with Kagome.

Only...Sakura didn't remember being embarrassed. No, she remembered being insulted...

.0.

_Kagome's grey eyes stared at her in obvious amusement. Sakura simply rolled her eyes and looked away, her nose raised._

_"Come on, Sakura-chan, you can't just judge the book when you haven't read it yourself." Sakura gave her a side-glance full of disbelief. It was Kagome's turn to roll her eyes. "Really, Sakura-chan, you can't judge the book! If you would just read the first sentence, __I'm__ positive that you would like the story." Kagome nodded her head at her own statement._

_Sakura softly shook her head. She was never going to get Kagome to leave her alone about that nasty book. The girl could truly be persistent when she wanted to be. The orange covered book was definitely one thing that Kagome was determined to get Sakura to read, simply to try to prove that it wasn't a bad story._

_Sakura refused to read that smut!_

_"Maybe it's okay for you, Kagome-chan, but I'd rather not read it. Stop offering me the book, please!"_

_"Sak-"_

_"So this is where you have been wasting all of your time." Both girls gasped and turned their heads quickly. They couldn't see who spoke because the unknown person __did so __from the shadows, but it was Kagome who recognized the __voice__ when he spoke again. "I clearly remember you saying that you were going out to train, not to sit around with one of these...kunoichi."_

_Grey eyes narrowed in annoyance when Sakura flinched, the heavy distaste being obvious__ with the word __kunoichi._

_Kagome stood up as the person walked out of the shadows. Sakura's green eyes widened when she got a good look at the stranger. This person, this man, had to be Saiketsu Bankotsu. The resemblance between him and Kagome __was__ too close for it simply to be a coincidence. Sakura stood up when Bankotsu's eyes glared __at __her. Never had she been on the receiving end of such a look maybe back when Ami had been picking on her but that had stopped almost as soon as it started._

_"Get away from my sister, disgusting shinobi trash." Sakura took a small step back, her eyes widening and tearing up at the horrible name. Bankotsu turned his glare toward the __equally-__glaring Kagome. "And you!"_

_Kagome tensed, but nothing came from the older male. Both simply stared each other down. Kagome was the first to look away, and that was when Bankotsu's glare became harsher and once again directed itself toward Sakura._

_"I want you to stay away from my sister, do you understand you, disgustingly weak kunoichi__?__" Even as the tears rolled down Sakura's cheeks, he continued, "I cannot, and will not, have the heir to the Saiketsu Clan becoming just as weak as you. You and every other shinobi should just stay away!"_

_It was with that, that Sakura turned and ran, no longer able to bear the stabbing words spewing from this man. Kagome reached out a hand to stop the girl, but Sakura evaded the __gesture __and ran faster. __She__ wasn't sure what happened with Kagome, but she just ran. She felt herself going at speeds she had never tried before, jumping onto trees and rooftops._

_After a few minutes, Sakura stopped on sturdy tree, wanting to continue, but knowing that she still needed some energy to get back home. Looking around her surroundings, Sakura realized that she had stopped near T__eam Seven's__ training ground. Using just a bit of chakra, she jumped down the tree and walked toward one of the tree stumps. When she was close enough to it, she hopped on and turned to stare at the stars._

_They were a bit dull, today but maybe that was just her tears blurring everything._

_With a long sigh, Sakura blew her pink hair away from her eyes. The wind was slightly blowing her hair in front of her, something that annoyed her as it reminded her of the years when she used to hide behind her bangs. Truthfully, she did enjoy having bangs, but if other people took her bangs as a way to hide her forehead, as if she was ashamed of her face, well, she refused to cut her hair! _

_She wouldn't let Ami win. Not again. _

_She looked up when she heard a twig snap. Sakura reached for her kunai pouch, but the soft,__ apologetic __voice that echoed around the clearing stopped her. Green met grey and, for a moment, there was no sound._

_"__I'm__ so sorry, Sakura-chan...please, please forgive what my brother said..."_

.0.

She was startled out of her thoughts when a hand shook her shoulder. Trailing her eyes from the hand to the face, a blush started to form on her cheeks. _Sasuke-kun, _was the only thought that processed in her mind.

Sasuke raised an eyebrow at her silence, but upon seeing her blush, he mentally rolled his eyes. He couldn't be around her once without having her blush. _Such a fan girl...I'm glad at least Kagome isn't like that, but having her annoying anger isn't any better than having a fangirls 'love'. _He paused for a second, thinking about weaseling his way out of this, but he knew he wouldn't. he wasn't that type of shinobi. He stuck to his commitments, even ones that he didn't totally care about.

"It's my turn to take over watch. Tazuna's daughter left a plate of food on the table if you're hungry." Sakura nodded absent-mindedly, but when the words registered, she looked out the window to see the sun already setting.

She said in a small voice, "Oh"

Sasuke stepped back as she stood, took one glance at Kagome, and then left the room. Only when he heard Sakura walking down the stairs did he take her previous seat. He just needed to stay there until sunrise, and then he could put this responsibility back on Naruto.

The young Uchiha spared one disinterested stare at Kagome before he turned to look out the window. He couldn't understand why his teammates were feeling so guilty, and, honestly, he didn't _want _to know. He and Saiketsu Kagome didn't have the best of pasts together and he didn't want to feel any type of remorse for someone whom he was sure detested him. She was no Naruto; she didn't have this weird bond with him that could make him feel anything for her. She knew nothing about him and he knew nothing about her. Sasuke felt perfectly fine with how those arrangements were.

Yet, he still found himself staring at her face through the corner of his eye. It just seemed so weird having her so quiet. Usually, whenever he so much as stepped in her direction, Kagome got tense and shot glares at him. So, Sasuke reasoned that it was perfectly normal for him to be a little...freaked out by the way she was so still.

He softly scoffed. Only he could feel disturbed by the fact that she so motionless instead of being concerned for her.

* * *

They were like moving shadows to anybody who had the ability to spot them among the darkness of the forest. Night had fallen quickly around the watery island, and perhaps that was a good thing for them. They were running away for the second time in under a week. That was not good. Especially since they _were_ missing-nin.

"I believe we have lost them, Zabuza-sama." Both 'shadows' stopped moving and surveyed their surroundings. They were noticeably closer to the Land of Waves, but not enough that they were entering the village. Haku mentally nodded at their positions. They should be just out of range of the Konoha-nins. He focused his attention back to Zabuza when the older shinobi dropped down to the ground and sat against the roots of the tree. The ice-user pressed his lips together. If he tried to tend to Zabuza now, the swordsman would most likely get upset.

His brown eyes looked back to the small village. Why Gato had wanted to get his hands on this village was lost to Haku. It was already pathetic-looking and its inhabitants really were nothing too special: no kekkai genkais, no shinobi, and certainly no amazing jutsus. In fact, this very poor village was just barely holding itself together. So why? Why had Gato desired it to the point that he was willing to hire missing-nin?

Maybe it was because he was still young that made him naïve, but...this all seemed a bit pointless. Haku shrugged away all these thoughts. _None of this concerns Zabuza-sama or me anymore. Gato is dead. A few of his henchmen are running around and now no one is going to oppose that old man from making the bridge. Except, _his brown eyes lowered themselves to the roots of the trees, taking in Zabuza's frustrated glare, _Zabuza-sama still wants to fight those Konoha-nin. I certainly don't know __his reasons__, but I will follow Zabuza and protect him, as any good tool should do._

"Haku."

He dropped down from the tree at the call of his name. "Yes, Zabuza-sama?"

Zabuza smirked behind his bandages. "I have a little mission for you before we directly attack those Konoha shinobi."

Haku slightly tilted his head as Zabuza's smirk widened. _Why...do I get a very bad feeling about this?_

_

* * *

_

Alright! And there it was, the long awaited chapter seven! Thanks to my beta _Persephonae_ for going through another long chapter (I need to work on those commas...) Any-who, I hope you guys liked the new chapter!

Updated January 4, 2011


	8. Saiketsu Kagome

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**Chapter Eight**

_Saiketsu Kagome_

_Hot...it's too hot..._

A groan passed through her lips as she pushed the many covers away from her. Why would anybody put this many blankets on a person who was already too hot? Kagome was far too out of it to realize that she was covered in only one thin sheet. A small whine left her when the heat continued to overwhelm her.

With a bit of effort that left her panting, Kagome stood unsteadily on her two feet, one hand pressed against the wall and the other helping to keep her balance. Her eyebrows furrowed when everything remained blurry despite knowing that she was awake now, albeit a bit drowsy. She blinked multiple times, trying desperately to clear her vision. Another whine left her when even rubbing her eyes did nothing to help her. Suddenly, her knees buckled. Wide-eyed and semi-alert, Kagome grabbed onto the nearest thing to keep her steady.

A hiss, clatter, and thud followed.

Chairs scraping against the floor, the panicked but dulled voices of many, and the clanking of dishes immediately responded to the noise above them. Despite the following rushed actions, only one person made it to the room first.

"You stupid girl!"

Kagome stared at the dark-haired person in front of her with heavy-lidded eyes. She only blinked once, but when she opened her eyes again, the person was no longer halfway through the door, staring at her with what she assumed was shock. This person, one she couldn't recognize because of the blur, stood next to her, kicking away the blood-crusted fishing spears. She blinked again, but this time the dark-haired boy was no longer in front of her. There was a hand on her forehead, but that came from the tall, silver-haired man kneeling before her.

"She's running a high fever now, probably due to any remaining poison in her system." The hand left her forehead and she stared at the man in confusion. She wasn't poisoned...that was impossible! Her brothers would never let her get hurt, much less _poisoned_.

Kagome shook her head slowly, catching the attention of the man. When he put a hand on her neck, she shrieked and pushed him away. The attempt only left her feeling dizzy and the man not having moved an inch. He caught her when she almost fell and Kagome struggled weakly in his arms.

_Nii-san? _Kagome pushed against the unknown shinobi's chest, completely ignoring his and everyone else's attempt to calm her. "Get away from me..." She said meekly while slowing her attempts to get away. She felt to weak. Where were her brothers? _They promised to protect me...where are they?_

"Bankotsu-nii-san..." She trailed off, her eyes beginning to flutter close. "I want...my...nii-san..."

With that, she closed her eyes and lay limp in Kakashi's arms. No one said anything, but Sakura and Naruto did walk closer to the still Kakashi.

"Ne...Kakashi-sensei," Naruto looked at Kakashi with a questioning gaze, shifting between his leader and Kagome repeatedly.

Kakashi sighed silently and lay Kagome down on the mat she had previously been occupying. He grabbed the blanket and ripped it in half. Ignoring Sakura and Tazunas daughter's gasp at his actions, he continued to rip the cloth until it resembled a small towel. He folded it and poured a bit of water on the now small cloth. Taking one of the bowls that was in the room-probably Sasuke's finished breakfast bowl-he twisted the cloth until it was just barely damp. Kakashi gently put the cloth on Kagome's forehead and stood up.

Sakura spoke up, slightly understanding the situation. "Kagome-chan's fever was too high, making her hallucinate...am I right, Sensei?"

Kakashi nodded his head. "Something like that. Kagome was most likely too out of it to realize who we were and so she instinctively wanted the person who she knows will protect her-"

"Her brother, Bankotsu!" Naruto said with realization as his eyes slightly widened. Kakashi nodded again.

Sasuke moved out of the corner he was standing in and picked up the fishing spears. He gave all but one to Tazuna. "Im going to wash off her blood from the spear, I'll be back." Kakashi approved his actions but you could easily see that Sakura wanted to go with him. Normally, Kakashi would have allowed the pink-haired girl to go, but right now, he needed Sakura to direct Tazuna and his family's attention elsewhere.

"Sakura," When she looked at him, he glanced at the confused, and slightly worried, family and then back to her. Sakura slowly nodded her head and walked to the family.

"Tazuna-san?"

Kakashi ignored them now, knowing that Sakura could handle the situation. He focused on Naruto, who was now worriedly examining Kagome's face very closely. Kakashi smirked. If Kagome woke up right now without a fever, he had a feeling the young girl would be blushing very brightly at the sight of her crush staring directly at her with a look of worry.

Kakashi mentally chuckled before quickly sobering, "Naruto." The boy looked up from his teammate to his sensei with furrowed eyebrows and curious blue eyes. _How he looks like Minato-sensei..._That thought was quick to be shoved away. "I need you to go find Sasuke and when he's done with the spear, I need both of you to go find some herbs to help Kagome's fever."

Naruto nodded his head, determination settling deep within him, "Hai, Kakashi-sensei!"

Watching him leave, Kakashi was pleased to see Sakura and their clients had left long before. In fact, he could hear them downstairs now. He closed the door and glanced at Kagome. Her face was flushed with fever and she was breathing faster than she should be but that's what the herbs were for. Right now however, he had to complete his side mission. Releasing a deep breath, Kakashi brought his hands up, and, in less than a second, made his desired jutsu.

_Dog_

_Snake_

_Ox_

_Bird_

_Tiger_

Putting his index and middle finger against her forehead, he whispered, "Jigyaku no Jutsu!"

A soft groan came from Kagome and her eyes slightly opened. Kakashi grit his teeth but continued, he couldn't let personal feelings interfere with mission. "Saiketsu Kagome, can you hear me?"

No response.

"I asked: can you hear me, Saiketsu Kagome?"

She blinked once and softly answered, "Hai."

"Good. I am going to ask you a few questions, OK?" Another soft "_hai__"_ and he continued, "What are the names of every person in the Band of Seven?"

"There's my nii-san, Saiketsu Bankotsu, then there's his partner and my favorite person to talk to, Saiketsu Jakotsu. After that, there's my personal medic: Saiketsu Suikotsu. He doesn't have a partner. Then, there's the one that I really don't trust or like much, Saiketsu Renkotsu. He doesn't have a partner, either." Just when Kakashi was ready to ask why those last two people didn't have partners, Kagome surprised him when she continued talking. "Of course, Renkotsu used to have a partner. His name is Saiketsu Ginkotsu. Last are the two weirdoes of the Band of Seven: Saiketsu Mukotsu and Saiketsu Kyoukotsu."

Kakashi narrowed his eyes. Three more members...Bankotsu had personally told the Hokage that there were only four members left, so why was Kagome, under a jutsu, stating otherwise? _The only logical explanation is that he was lying. This will not bode well for Kagome when the Hokage and Council find out. _He pushed away the feeling of his anger. He might not like this, and, he may believe in teamwork, but when it was the Hokage's orders. It was just that: orders.

Shinobi were born and bred to follow orders.

He continued with his questions, "Where are Saiketsu Ginkotsu, Saiketsu Mukotsu and Saiketsu Kyoukotsu now?"

"Dead."

His eyes widened. _What? _She hadn't been using the past tense _was_, when she spoke of them. "What do you mean '_dead_'?"

A few tears surprisingly slid down Kagome's cheeks, "They died years ago, when I was only five. T-They died protecting me and they sacrificed themselves to allow the rest of us to get away."

Kakashi wiped the tears away, but stopped when he saw it was useless. Kagome was not going to stop crying now that she was remembering that part of her life. He sighed; he needed more information on this part. "Where are their graves located at and who killed them?"

The tears slightly eased up, with the exception of one or two drops of tears trickling down her cheeks. "Their graves are somewhere safe...somewhere no one will ever be able to get too."

"Where?" he pressed on.

"...Their bodies, when we found them after the attack, were burnt beyond recognition. So we finished the job...We burnt their bodies 'til there was nothing but ash. Then we traveled to Mount Hakurei, to the very top of the mountain. I was given the honor of throwing their remains into the air. It was something Bankotsu-nii said every mercenary would want when they died: total freedom and the chance to return to where they were born."

His eyebrows creased. "What do you mean, where they were born?"

"Mount Hakurei. That is the mountain where mercenaries once trained to earn their title. Mount Hakurei is where I was raised and trained."

"Did you ever finish your training? Did you become a mercenary?"

"No, I never got to finish my training because of the incident. After that happened, my brothers were arrested at their weakest by Konoha-nin and eventually, under the deal that they be loyal, we were allowed to stay in Konoha. Or really...we were not allowed to leave Konoha."

"Hn." He had already been aware of that little fact. The Band of Seven were, essentially, prisoners. "Who were the pursuers that killed the three Saiketsu members?"

"They were...they were...I don't know who it was...I just know that they had a musical note on their headbands."

"Hmm..." He would have to look into that later; but now he still had more questions to ask her. "I need some information, Kagome, about your brother Bankotsu." She gave a slight nod. "I need to know where Bankotsu met the rest of the Band of Seven. I have information stating that he was not the original leader, that took over that position."

Kagome's eyes crinkled in confusion. "No...No, that's a lie. Bankotsu-nii was always the leader of the Band of Seven. He gathered the members and together they all earned their name. There was no original leader."

"Are you sure?" Kakashi pushed a little more chakra into the jutsu.

"Hai, I'm sure that he was the first and only leader."

"What about the name Naraku? Does that name sound familiar to you?"

Kagome mouthed the name to herself and a few minutes later, she said with uncertainty, "T-There was a man that Bankotsu went to for advice named Naraku. He used to live at Mount Hakurei, in one of our main buildings. It's how we knew that he was someone that only Bankotsu was allowed to talk to. But...Naraku was never a member; he never trained to be a mercenary. Bankotsu-nii only called him a guide. He wasn't with us long though; in fact...he left...a few weeks before the incident."

She said the last part slowly, but Kakashi hardly noticed. He was busy thinking over the facts that he had just learned. He removed his fingers and watched as her eyes closed again. He quickly dampened the slightly dry cloth and stood up. He needed to get all of this information to the Hokage.

* * *

Naruto pushed himself off the branch and onto the next.

One, two, stop, look for Sasuke...nothing...

One, two, three, stop, look...nothing...

One, two...

He felt himself sigh with annoyance. No matter how far he ran, he couldn't find Sasuke. Why? He was supposed to be washing the spear in the closest river. Yet, Naruto couldn't find him. It was as if he disappeared

_Where the heck is that dang Teme!_

Naruto stopped after the fifth tree and, when he failed to find Sasuke once again, he jumped down and just walked. He shifted through the small basket he carried. There were only a few things in the basket and each of those items were small pictures with a bit of writing under them. He grabbed the first one his fingers touched and brought it out to read. Reading and walking. Not the smartest thing.

With his luck, he'll most likely end up hitting a-

_Smack_

The sound of someone chuckling made him step away from the tree he ran into. That's _as bad as my luck can get. Running into a tree as soon I think about it. Sakura-chan would never like a guy as uncool as that._

Naruto groaned and rubbed his nose while glancing around the clearing. His eyes widened. He was positive that a blush was taking over his face. There, sitting in the middle of the field surrounded by flowers and herbs, was the girl he was just thinking about.

"S-sakura-chan..."

Sakura chuckled again and waved him over. Naruto was quick to comply.

"What are you doing out here, Sakura-chan? Aren't you supposed to be taking care of Tazuna and his family?" Sakura just waved him off and pointed toward something behind him. Naruto creased his eyebrows, but looked anyway.

He felt his entire body freeze, shock and fear being the only real thing he could feel, "Sasuke!"

Hanging there by a couple of senbons was Sasuke. He was bloody and dirtied, but what worried the blond the most was the fact that Sasuke wasn't moving...or breathing. He heard the basket drop but that didn't register to him. He could only stare at his motionless teammate.

_No...No...No, no, no, no, no! _"Sasuke!" Before he could rush over to him, peach-toned arms wrapped themselves around his neck and pressed a kunai against his throat. He gulped. Turning his eyes from Sasuke to the attacker, Naruto felt his eyes widened again as he looked to his attacker.

"Sakura...chan...Why?"

Sakura smirked sinisterly. "Poor, poor Naruto-kun." Naruto narrowed his blue eyes. Fury filling his every fiber. That voice...this was not Sakura's voice!

"Who are you?" He looked away from Sakura to stare at Sasuke instead. His view wasn't exactly great, but it was a little better than watching this Sakura impersonator.

A small poof was his answer, but he didn't turn to look at his real captor was. Was this how Sasuke was captured? They tricked Sasuke into thinking it was Sakura-chan and then they captured him. _Are they going to beat me li-_

"You did a fine job, Haku." Naruto tensed and quickly looked up, wincing slightly when he slightly cut his throat on the kunai. Ignoring the pain for a moment, Naruto continued to search the tree branches.

It was at that moment that Naruto wondered why he widened his eyes.

Was it because high on the branches stood Zabuza?

Was it because his captor stuck a senbon into the back of his throat?

Or was it because Sasuke-bloody and beaten-suddenly splashed into a messy puddle at the base of the tree?

Whatever the reason, Naruto didn't have enough time to think about it. In only a few short seconds, his vision blackened and he fell.

* * *

Sasuke panted while lying at the base of a large oak tree. _Half an hour, possibly longer._ That was how long he had been practicing with Kakashi's training method. Kakashi had only taught it to them yesterday, but he wanted them to practice on their own whenever possible. It was originally supposed to be group training, but with Kagome sick and in need of protecting, they couldn't practice together.

Sasuke really didn't mind.

This way, Sakura wouldn't bother him and maybe, just maybe, she would actually get some training done as well. Naruto wouldn't constantly be baiting him in with taunts or being a plain bother.

_And __Kagome_, he snorted. _No Kagome means, no headaches._

He opened his eyes, blinking a bit to adjust to the sunlight. He shouldn't have come all the way over here to practice this chakra exercise when Kagome was sick and possibly still healing from the attack. Sure, he didn't exactly like her because of their past, but he was here when, technically, it was still his turn to be watching her. He did feel a little guilty that she had been injured when he was supposed to be watching over her.

He scowled. How was he supposed to know that the stupid girl would wake up as soon as he needs to go pee? And why the heck had she thought it was a good idea to grab a spear anyway? Sasuke sighed. He was just making excuses now. He messed up. He would admit that, if only in his mind, but still...she sure knew how to cause trouble.

_I better get back. Sakura, if not all of them, are probably wondering where I am._

With a grunt, Sasuke pushed himself off the ground. He grabbed the now-clean spear before walking back to Tazuna's home.

He ran his free hand through his bangs, slightly ruffling them a bit, and sighed. _Sakura...she'll keep bothering me on where I was. Naruto, too._

Sasuke sighed again.

He was not looking forward to the interrogation that was coming up. Hopefully, if luck was on his side, then Kakashi would still be busy with Kagome and Sakura, and Naruto are distracted by _something_.

If only he knew what was happening with Naruto...

* * *

"_Come now, Kaggy-chan, we just want to add a little more blush!" A chorus of approvals came after the comment._

_That didn't make her budge from her hiding spot under the large bed. She was not about to go back with all those women and suffer the hair grabbing, harsh brushes, loads and loads of blush, mascara, eyeliner-which poked her eyes, and lipstick. She refused to do that She was not a doll dammit!_

"_Stupid wenches don't get it," Kagome muttered under her breath. "My brothers don't leave me in their care to get me dressed up to try and be one of them. I am not some play thing or some sort of entertainment, either! My brothers just don't want me to see them screwing stupid brainless girls."_

"_That's no mouth for a young lady."_

_Kagome yelped and attempted to scramble away from the woman that had somehow gotten under the bed with her. Her attempt was in vain, however, as a pair of hands grabbed her ankles and dragged her out. Kagome's blunt nails could do little to help her escape. She didn't even bother screaming for her brothers' help. The loud foreign music was more than enough to drown out her screeches, just like the music did well to block out the moans and groans of everyone in__ the other __rooms._

_Kagome blinked once to get used to flashes of colored lights in the dark room. It was like this in every room: dark, colored lights from a disco ball flashing occasionally and loud foreign or native music blasting away__ from the speakers__. She hated it. She was very familiar with every room in the entire building and she didn't think that was a good thing from what one of the shinobi women who saw her said._

_What did she say? Oh yeah, something like a young girl in a whorehouse was disgustingly inappropriate. Had the woman had her way, Kagome would be long gone by now. Probably to whatever village she came from so that Kagome would never have to be in this place ever again. Her brothers had cut the woman down when she said that, though, so Kagome had never been taken._

_At the time, Kagome hadn't been sure what the woman was talking about, but when she used her newfound reading skills to look in a dictionary...well, Kagome was not happy._

_How dare her brothers take her repeatedly to a brothel—another word she looked up in the dictionary!_

_She had wanted to yell and complain and just be a plain brat, but when she thought back on it, this was the only thing that her brothers had ever done wrong. Every other thing they did was to protect, help, and make sure she grew up well. Sure they left her in this brothel whenever they needed to complete dangerous jobs. And maybe they came here a little too much, but from what the women at the brothel said, they needed to have a little fun._

_Kagome wasn't sure what to think on that mostly __be__cause she didn't want to think about what the woman meant by __"fun"__._

_She was rudely jarred from her thoughts when the woman who grabbed her ankles __knelt__ down to __her __eye level. Kagome glared into __amused, red __eyes. __ The woman went by the name of wind-a codename, something all the women had to come up with in order to protect their safety. __Kagome hated her the most, but she was also the one she respected the most. _I wonder, if I slit her throat now, will my brothers be more proud than angry? _Once again, the dark haired woman interrupted Kagome from her thoughts._

"_Now, Kagome-chan, what did I tell you about using those bad words?" Kagome's glare intensified. Wind only smirked, showing off pearly fangs encased in a red-lipped mouth. She leaned into Kagome, tightening her grip on the young __girl's__ shoulders, and whispered into her ear, "Didn't I tell you that next time you used words like that, I would personally see to your punishment?"_

_Kagome ignored her quickening heartbeat and equally said in a low voice, "My brothers would never allow you to do that. They will kill if I ask, so what makes you think that I couldn't just tell them a lie about you and have them off you as well?"_

_Red lips only smirked wider. "Well, let's see. Your brothers approached me not too long ago, the day we met to be exact, and asked me to be your personal guardian when they could not be there. I asked about my punishment rights. Do you want to know what they told me, Ka-go-me-chan?"_

_She felt her lips quiver. She had this conversation with Bankotsu-nii; she knew what this woman had the right to do. She just...she never knew it was __Wind__ who was her secret guardian. She had to hear it from __Wind,__ herself though; she needed to hear it!_

"_W-what...what did they say?" she asked quietly, afraid of the answer she was going to __hear__ because she knew exactly what the older woman was going to say._

_The woman back leaned back a bit to look Kagome in the eyes. Just looking into her eyes, Kagome felt like she could see a smirk. "They said I could do whatever I saw fit as long as you didn't die."_

_Kagome's eyes widened with fear as __Wind__ stood up and pulled her outside. Kagome struggled against the older woman's grip, but she wasn't strong enough. What could a __five-year-old__ do to an adult anyway? None of the other __women__ did anything to help Kagome either, most just pouting at the loss of their entertainment and the others casually __ignoring __what was happening to her._

_She felt her breathing pick up as her fear increased. She wasn't sure what __Wind__ was going to do, but she was scared. There was only one reason her brothers would pick someone to protect her: they knew how to fight. If Wind knew how to fight, then that could only mean that she could come up with some interesting punishment techniques._

_Kagome whimpered slightly when they entered the forest surrounding the brothel._

_Suddenly Kagome was brought to her knees, __gasping __for air that suddenly seemed non-existent. _W-what is this? Why am I so scared?

_The woman once again __knelt __next to her and showed her simple wire. Kagome watched with both fear and confusion. Wind wrapped the wire around her palm and when she was positive that Kagome was paying attention, she covered her palm with her other hand. She gave Kagome a secretive smirk and that was all she could remember happening before the images came._

_Whatever feeling this was, __it was __the feeling as if she was going to die soon. It intensified and filled her mind with dozens of images of her death. When she snapped her eyes open—something she hadn't realized she did—it was only because she actually felt pain._

_She yelped when the pain came again._

_Slightly turning her head, Kagome felt her eyes open wider than she had ever thought possible. Wind...she was...the wire that she had wrapped around her palm had been so small but now-_

"_Ah!" Kagome bit her lip as the once-small-wire-now-long hit her back. "P-please...please stop..." She managed to mutter out._

_It did stop, but Kagome still felt fear when she heard footsteps getting closer to herself. She slowly looked up at the woman's face when she stood in front of her. The older woman was not smiling or smirking, she just gazed down at Kagome with a blank expression. For some inexplicable reason, Kagome felt nothing but shame for being the reason of that expression._

_Her eyelids lowered and she moved her gaze to the dirt floor beneath her._

"_What must a lady never do?"_

_Kagome answered softly, "A lady must never curse..."_

"_Good," Wind said curtly. "Now, answer me this, Kagome: should a lady ever allow herself to be beaten like that?"_

_Kagome mulled over the question. She didn't know what to answer. Or really, she didn't know how the woman wanted her to answer. Tentatively, Kagome shook her head. The woman __knelt __in front of Kagome and softly grabbed her chin to make Kagome stare into her eyes. The __five-year-old__ was surprised to see a soft smile on her face._

"_You are absolutely right, Kagome. As of now, I am going to teach you my signature jutsu. You are going to be my pupil and I am going to make sure that you never have to rely on others. Do you understand?" Kagome nodded her head, awe filling her now as she stared into this woman's face. "First, though," the woman smirked again. "I think its only fair you know my name. Like I know yours. What do you think?"_

"_I...I think that is very fair..." Kagome said with a small smile._

"_My name is—"_

"KAGOME!"

Grey eyes snapped open only to close almost immediately. The room was too bright. She had just barley blinked open her eyes when the door to the room she lay in was violently opened. Sakura stood there, a panicked look on her face.

"Sa-" Kagome cleared her throat. It was far too dry for her liking. "What's wrong?"

Sakura's shoulders shook, "It...It's Naruto...he...he...oh gosh!"

By now, Kagome was panicked. What happened to Naruto? She wanted to ask, but Sakura looked too devastated. Sasuke came in next, an angry scowl on face. Kagome sent him her a confused glance, but he just turned away. Her confusion all but cleared up as Kakashi came in, Naruto's jacket in one hand and a note in the other. What had Kagome scared was the blood on both the jacket and the note.

_Oh no...oh please don't let Naruto be in trouble! _A sob came from Sakura, and Kagome found she couldn't look away from the anguished girl. She wanted to do the same thing as Sakura, but she was too shocked. How...why...more importantly...who?

Kagome's eyes flashed red for a moment, but it vanished far too quickly for anyone to witness it. Kagome grit her teeth and looked at Kakashi; he was still looking at the note with a blank stare. It was time to ask the dreaded question. She needed to find out...she needed to hear the confirmation from her sensei.

She gulped. In the back of her mind, she realized that her mouth and throat were too dry to swallow anything.

"S-sensei?" When she had Kakashi's attention, she looked at the wooden floor and asked the question that she was dreading. "Where...what happened to...to Naruto?"

Kakashi stared into her gray eyes with his dark ones and Kagome was slightly surprised to see nothing. Not one ounce of emotion was in his eyes and that worried her more than she was willing to admit.

He spoke, his answer seemingly booming in the small and quiet room, "Naruto has been taken hostage."

* * *

I AM FINISHED! HAHAHAHAHAAHAHAHA...HAHA...I think this chapter made me loose my mind! -_-;

Lets give a humungo thanks to my beta _Persephonae_ for going through this chapter for me!

On another note...I want to thank everyone who reviewed and made it possible to get to that 100 mark on reviews! Thanks to you, thank you soo much! On a related note...why do I have do many alerts but only like...one-fourth of those people review? It makes me curious!

Updated on January 23, 2011


	9. The Effects of Loss

**Chapter Nine**

**The Effects of Loss**

Sakura watched her.

She watched the controlled and almost graceful movements of the wires and girl as they spun and twisted among themselves. They both looked so delicate.

A small frown formed on her pink lips. Kagome had been distant these last few days and, to be quite honest, Sakura was….worried. Ever since Naruto had been taken, Kagome had become withdrawn. She just wasn't the same.

She could understand why Kagome was upset. They all were. But, her raven-haired friend was taking it to the extreme. She hardly touched her food, she only spoke if directly asked something, and most of the time, Kagome was out here training.

Even Kakashi-sensei was worried. Or as worried as Sakura had ever seen him. Which really just meant he glanced at Kagome over his filthy book more often than he did with Sasuke-kun or herself.

Though, unlike the past few days, Kakashi had given them the day to train on their own while he watched over Tazuna as he and his men worked on the bridge.

Sakura had to admit, she was bit grateful for the break. She was tired from the harsh training that their sensei had been delivering. Unfortunately, it seemed that she was the only one who had these feelings. Kagome and Sasuke just handled the training head on, not once complaining.

Thinking of Sasuke-kun...

Sakura glanced down from her perch on the tree branches. Sasuke sat at the base of the tree next to the one that Sakura had been training on, giving his weapons a scrutinizing stare. After a few moments, he would either sharpen the metal or place it with the rest of his good weapons.

In all honesty, she expected Sasuke to be acting more like Kagome: constantly training and practicing at every moment, grating on Kakashi-sensei's nerves until he finally taught him something useful, and going to bed late and waking up early.

And yet, there he sat at the base of the tree, looking as though there was nothing to rush for-nothing to care about.

Naruto was Sasuke-kun's best friend, so why wasn't he worried? Was it possible that Sasuke truly didn't care? Or maybe he believed Naruto was already...dead.

Sakura shook her head, more than certain those were not the reason for his calm behavior. Or so she hoped.

Focusing back on Kagome, Sakura wasn't surprised to see her still practicing with her wires. They coiled themselves around Kagome almost like snakes. From where she sat, Sakura could almost swear she could hear the thrum of electricity as it flowed throughout the strands. Kagome's chakra control was truly amazing. Most people didn't have that type of control until they were at least chunin or jounin!

Her green eyes watched a drop of sweat slide down her teammate's cheek. It remained on her chin for two more seconds before falling. Sakura noted how it evaporated before even splashing on the wire almost directly under it. Her eyes trailed back up to Kagome's own silver ones and Sakura felt her sense of worry increase at what she saw.

Pure, raw anger.

They weren't the best of friends, Sakura would admit**. **In fact, until Kagome introduced Sango as her best friend, Sakura had been jealous of Kagome's relationship with Ino.

Thinking back, Sakura was almost ashamed at how many times she had been jealous of the dark-haired kunoichi.

Kagome wasn't special. She didn't come from some powerful clan or have an amazing doujutsu. Kagome was just a foreign girl who trained hard and was good at what she did.

Yet, Sakura could feel it. The foolish jealousy.

Most of it spurred on by Sasuke and how easily Kagome could talk to him. Even if most of their "talking" was really arguments brought on by an insult. Sakura herself could hardly bring herself to talk about training with her crush.

While Kagome was not popular, Sakura could see that her friend wasn't insecure. Kagome just spoke to everyone with such a carefree manner. This was one of the things Sakura actually found herself missing. There was hardly any laughter or idle chatter anymore. It was almost always this tense silence as they trained.

Glancing back at Kagome, Sakura could just _see_ why Kagome had always ranked in the Top Five Kunoichi's Group right along with Ino, Sango, Hinata and that damn Ami-who always picked on her when Sakura had been younger.

Just thinking about all of these old reasons was bringing back that familiarprickle of irritation. Sakura did her best to lock that feeling away. Now wasn't the time for that, especially not when, despite not being so close, the rage inside Kagome was so clear as day.

Sakura knew very well that Kagome was aware of her misplaced jealousy but that never seemed to stop her from comforting Sakura whenever something was wrong. Kagome was _always_ there for her.

Biting her lip, Sakura realized she wanted to return the favor. She wanted to be there for Kagome in her time of need. Just as she had always been there for Sakura.

Maybe if they could talk in private, Kagome would be willing to open up. It was a long shot, but as Sakura watched Kagome twist and turn, forcing her wires to obey her and follow her movements only to result in burns across her arms, she just knew she had to help.

When Kagome barely winced from the burn, Sakura's lips thinned together.

She wasn't exactly sure what she could do for Kagome but, more than anything, Sakura wanted to help. If it had been Sasuke that had been taken, she knew that Kagome would have sat her down a long time ago and made her talk it out or at least let her cry onto her shoulder. She wouldn't have let Sakura hold in her feelings.

With that in mind, Sakura steeled together her courage.

She would be there for her friend.

No matter what.

…

Going through the motions was easy.

So easy, she didn't even have to think anymore.

So easy because only one seal was needed to activate her special jutsu.

One seal as she moved her body and willed her jutsu to do the same.

It would've been all too easy if not for the piercing stare of one pink-haired female. She could even feel the intense emotion behind the gaze: it was almost irritating.

Really, why was Sakura staring so much? Was she jealous of something again?

Kagome mentally scowled, taking her attention off her wires for but a second. One second was enough time for the wires to bite into her arm and scorch her flesh.

Wincing but refusing to alert her teammates to the amount of pain she was in, Kagome continued on, albeit rather slowly now.

Taking in one long, deep breathe breath, Kagome began her training again. She didn't want to focus on anything else but training hard.

Normally it would've been_ so easy_, but Sakura had been staring like that since breakfast.

Deciding not to risk another painful injury, she released the ram seal, stopping the flow of electricity. With the lack of electricity and chakra, the wires went limp as well. She rolled the wire and put it away, no longer tying it to her arm. Kagome had realized after a few practices that tying it to her arm slowed the attack and wasted just a bit more chakra.

A shinobi couldn't afford to waste any extra chakra.

Getting into a stance, Kagome forgot Sakura, forgot her wires, forgot Sasuke, and forgot her stomach's gurgle for food. Kagome forgot everything but Naruto and the mystery man that dared to take him from them.

Her eyes unknowingly flickered red.

She kicked high into the air and began a series of katas that she had managed to convince Kakashi to teach them.

These motions were easy**,** too. She needed to learn more. These motions were too easy. She needed something better. Motions that weren't easy. Motions that would _kill_ the man who took Naruto.

Her eyes changed as she turned toward a tree and punched with all her strength and anger.

There was a moment of complete silence as Kagome slowly blinked, her rage drifting away.

Her eyes once again silver and, now laced with astonishment and a tint of embarrassment, she and her two teammates stared at her hand that was wrist deep into the tree's bark.

Looking to her left and smiling bashfully, Kagome awkwardly asked, "A little help, Sasuke?"

She chuckled and rubbed the back of her neck with her free hand as Sasuke rolled his eyes but stood nonetheless. "Weirdo."

"Pfft. Teme, just help me already!"

"I'll go get some bandages for your arm, Kagome-chan."

"...This is gonna hurt isn't it?"

"Hn."

"Sasuke!?"

…

"AAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHH! SAAAAAAAAASUKEEEEEE MY ARM! MY ARM! AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAHHHHHHHHHH !"

…

Kakashi and Tazuna stopped their actions to stare toward the forest as Kagome's screams rang throughout the small town.

"Probably nothing," Kakashi said, eagerly returning back to his book.

"That girl you have on your little team… the one with black hair… she seems a bit different lately," a very tired Tazuna huffed out. Wiping the sweat off his forehead and stopping for a bit of a break, he glanced at Kakashi. "Is she alright?"

"Well that scream did sound painful, but oddly enough, I'm a _bit_ more worried for Sasuke-kun"** K**akashi mocked, amusement clearly evident in his voice.

Tazuna sighed, "You know very well I'm not speaking of that."

Kakashi hummed in his throat. "Well, you see, Kagome-chan has particular feelings toward Naruto. His disappearance is a little more difficult for her."

Looking at the faces of his workers, Tazuna sighed. "That doesn't mean she should allow her health to deteriorate. The poor girl doesn't eat and hardly sleeps." He scowled back at Kakashi, frustration bordering on anger in his eyes. "All she does is train and that's not good for a little girl!"

Kakashi flipped his book around so it dangled from his fingertips as he considered the old bridge builder. Being worried about a child who wasn't eating was one thing, but being worried to the point of anger about a shinobi—young girl or not—was something else entirely.

Something about all of this was personal to Tazuna. Kakashi just didn't know what.

Instead of providing the builder with an answer, Kakashi brought his book back up to eye level and read.

Tazuna snapped, "Do you even care that this little girl is getting weaker every day?"

Closing his book and stuffing it in his hip pouch, Kakashi approached the man with steady footsteps, not once breaking eye contact. He stopped at least two steps away from the man.

"Tazuna-san, it would be in your best interest to remember that Saiketsu Kagome is not a girl. She is not little. She is not weak. Saiketsu Kagome is a shinobi, first and foremost. Nothing more, nothing less." Kakashi lowered his eyes slightly. "If she couldn't handle this life, she would never have passed her exams from the academy."

"But sh-"

Kakashi nodded and cut him off. "She's young, yes. But she's not killing herself. I've been keeping an eye on her. She's smart. She can handle herself." Kakashi pinned Tazuna with a hard stare. "The question I have is why do you care so much?"

A long moment passed, Tazuna's face fell. "My daughter, Tsunami, she acted that way- not eating, not sleeping, not talking. She did that for a long time after Kaiza died until one day I talked her out of it. For Inari she changed her attitude." He coughed awkwardly into his fist. "I guess I saw my daughter in the child and I was a bit rash, but Kakashi..."

"Hm?"

"She still is a young girl. Maybe not weak. That part is up for debate, but I will agree that she is a shinobi, and for that I won't lecture you on how to take care of her. But, a young girl always needs someone to talk to. Young girls always need someone."

"Aa…" Kakashi pulled out his book and sat on the wooden planks staked by him. "I'll keep that in mind."

And he would. Especially considering that at twenty-six, Kakashi found himself with no more knowledge of girls than he had when he was a genin. And for that reason, Kakashi just knew things were going to go downhill where his female students were involved.

...

Naruto slowly blinked into the darkness of the small room he was chained in.

For a second...

For a second he thought he heard Kagome.

He gave a small smile, the crusted blood on the corners of his mouth cracking at the movement.

The blond whispered to no one, "I'm glad someone's keeping that teme in line."

His smile vanished as he heard the footsteps of someone approaching the door behind him. Idly, he wondered if they would still question him about Kagome despite his refusal the last three times. Even after they beat him, Naruto refused to betray his comrade.

They'd have to kill him before he gave anything away.

* * *

_**Author's Note**: So... ha ha ha... hi? I guess I should mention that I really didn't mean to go on Hiatus? Yup... Hope you guys enjoyed the chapter. I'll update faster, I swear. OH! By the way, have you guys checked out my story cover? It reveals clues to future chapters. Sorta. Enjoy :P_

Updated on December 15th 2012


	10. The Calm before the Storm

**Chapter Ten**

**The Calm before the Storm**

It was mid-afternoon when Kakashi re-considered what to do with the note again. He had already attempted to use his summons to track the source, but according to Pakkun, the scent was littered all around the small country. It clung to the trees, the roads, and even some homes, yet no one matched the scent on the note.

Kakashi was impressed with such evasive tactics, but with each day his student was gone, his ire also increased.

They (whoever _they_ were) wanted Kagome in exchange for Naruto. While the Council could care less for Kagome's life, Kakashi would not allow one of his students to become a trading chip.

In fact, his team wouldn't even be in this situation if he hadn't used Kagome's fever to the advantage of the Council and interrogated her. But, he wouldn't blame this solely on the Council. As the sensei to Team Seven, Kakashi decided that it was his responsibility to retrieve Naruto.

Kagome didn't need to risk her safety.

The masked-nin had to admit to one thing: even he was curious as to why they wanted her so badly that they would take the child of the Yondaime and the Gondaime.

_Maybe these people are idiots. Idiots or powerful. The question is which one…_

Rubbing his cloth-covered chin, Kakashi leaned into the chair he was resting on and stared at the ceiling. Ignoring that thought, He needed to devise a strategy to rescue Naruto. If he thought this through, he might even be able to discover why the enemy wanted Kagome.

Everything just had to be planned.

Sensing a small increase of chakra from the direction of his team's designated training area, Kakashi stood and silently pushed his chair in under the table.

_Maybe I should go see what my other bundles of joy are doing_. Slipping his hands into his pockets, he gradually walked toward his destination, deciding he didn't see any reason to rush toward a headache.

And what a headache they were.

Stopping just out of eyesight, Kakashi watched with some interest as Kagome and Sasuke rolled around in the dirt. They were pulling and tugging at the other's clothes and hair, snarling as they tried to gain the upper hand in what he could only assume was a battle.

_More like petty squabbling between two pre-pubescent kids, _Kakashi thought as he silently joined Sakura in watching the two raven heads spout out some impressive profanity at one another.

Sakura, for the most part, ignored his presence in favor of gnawing on her bottom lip in worry, only giving him a small glance here or there probably wondering why he hadn't intervened yet.

Kakashi's lip twitched in amusement when Kagome growled out and flipped on top of Sasuke and pulled his hair. "You fucking teme! Why don't you ever learn when to shut your damn mouth?"

Just as quickly, Sasuke flipped her over and attempted to remove her hands with a snarl. "Why don't _you_ shut up and LET GO!"

Kagome once again took control and delivered a quick punch, but before she could spit out another curse, Kakashi easily picked her up by the back of her shirt, simultaneously grabbing Sasuke's shirt and separating them.

"Now, now! You two, quit it," he paused, allowing the two to huff, cross their arms, and glare in opposite directions. "Who wants to tell Sensei what happened?"

Silence.

.

.

.

"I see," he spoke softly, "So that's how it's going to be, huh?" He raised a brow at the two who seemed intent on ignoring him in favor of looking at the ground.

Realizing that he would get nothing from the two, Kakashi decided on the easy Plan B and directed his sharp glance at Sakura, who tensed immediately.

_If I can't get it out of these two, then I'll just have to get it out of Sakura… later, _he thought with a smile that was a little too sinister to be good. Kagome, Sakura and Sasuke paled, knowing that if Kakashi was smiling in a situation like this, it couldn't be good for any of them.

"Alright." They all tensed at his overly happy tone. "How about this: you two apologize, and we can all start on training?"

Thinking about the chakra training, team training and the individual lessons Kakashi-sensei was putting them through, Kagome could only stare at her sensei with an irritated look.

_He makes it sound as though we'd want to start training._

Still, she didn't want to think about what her sensei might do should she actually disobey his direct orders.

_I might as well be the bigger person here._

Tilting her head up to stare as a few birds flew by, Kagome sarcastically said, "I am so very sorry, Uchiha. Please forgive me. "_Take that you Uchiha-teme! _she thought with a small smirk.

Kakashi released her but bopped her on the head with his fist. "I should have been specific when I said to apologize," he looked at Sasuke, "Now your turn, Sasuke."

Kagome glanced at the still-glaring Sasuke and huffed. "Don't expect much from that teme, Kakashi-sensei." She moved near Sakura and sat on the ground. "All he ever does is piss people off…" she muttered to herself.

"I only piss**_ you _**off**,** Saiketsu!" Sasuke spat out.

Kagome growled, "Do you wanna go again, Uchiha-teme?!"

"BOTH OF YOU QUIT IT!" Kakashi dropped Sasuke and glared at both of them. "Now is not the time for you two to be fighting. Naruto is out there and we need to be up to par with whoever took him."

The clearing went silent at those words

"Sasuke, apologize now."

"Bu-"

"Now." Kakashi said sternly.

Deciding to get it over with, Sasuke straightened out his shirt and glanced at the now silent raven-haired girl. "Sorry, Saiketsu."

She glanced up at him and let out a quiet "Sure".

Pulling out several kunai, Kakashi smiled at all of them. "Good. Now let's start on that training." He took a menacing step toward them, "I'd suggest…running. Now."

The each bolted away.

…

Kagome sighed contentedly as she soaked in the warm waters of the bath. Kakashi's new training had once again beaten her body sore and, being left to her own devices afterward, she had decided that she earned a relaxing bath. Her squeaky-clean hair was wrapped in a towel, and her skin positively tingled from the scrubbing she'd given herself.

Leaning back against the smooth porcelain rim of the tub, she stretched out, letting her body unwind while she let her mind drift like the rising steam.

_"You're the reason Naruto was taken in the first place!"_

_"I don't care why, but it's your entire fault!"_

_"Kakashi is keeping it from you, but I won't!"_

_"Who are you?!"_

_"We don't know anything about you… you… damn mercenary!"_

_"If Naruto dies, it'll be your fault..."_

A shaky sigh left her lips, her eyes drifting toward the Konoha headband that rested on the sink.

_"Who are you?!"_

_Who… am I?_

_"We don't know anything about you… you… damn mercenary!"_

_I am… Saiketsu Kagome._

_"My name is Saiketsu Kagome! My likes… well… I like reading, I guess… um… I don't have many dislikes… But I can't stand that damn Uchiha-teme! I don't really have a hobby… and my dream? Well… I never really thought about it…"_

_Sakura leaned closer to Naruto and muttered, "We learned as much from Kagome as we did Kakashi-sensei." _

_Kagome chuckled nervously until Naruto blurted out, "Ne ne, Kagome-chan! How come you never thought about a dream before?"_

_"I… don't know Naruto-kun, I just haven't."_

_"Tch. You're probably too stupid to have one." _

_She quickly turned around and glared heatedly at the dark-haired boy who rested casually on stairs with an arrogant smirk. "What did you say, Uchiha-teme?!"_

_"Are you deaf too, Second Place?"_

_"DON'T CALL ME SECOND PLACE!"_

_"Hn."_

_"UCHIHA-TEME!"_

Kagome sat up and brought her knees closer to herself, allowing her cheek to rest on them.

_"If Naruto dies, it'll be your fault…"_

She clenched her teeth.

How… how had this happened? If someone wanted to get her, they shouldn't have hidden in the shadows. They shouldn't have taken Naruto. If someone was after her**,** they should've faced her head-on.

_"You're the reason Naruto was taken in the first place!"_

But it wasn't her fault. Or at least, that's what she tried telling herself.

_"Kakashi is keeping it from you, but I won't!"_

"Why?" Kagome smacked her reflection, the water splashing outside of the tub and onto her clothes. She sighed tiredly, "I don't understand. Why wouldn't Kakashi-sensei tell me that the ransom note… was asking for me?"

…

Sakura glanced up at Kagome as the dark-haired girl walked into the room dressed in an oversized white shirt and black pants. "What are you wearing, Kagome-chan?"

"Spare clothes," Kagome dropped a pile of wet clothes near the window, scowling at the squish noises they made. "Hey Sakura, would you mind telling Kakashi-sensei that I went out to train today, too?" she asked while strapping on her weapon pouches.

When she was done with the small task, Kagome, still crouched, glanced at Sakura through her still wet oversized bangs. Her silver eyes caught the look of worry in the green orbs of her pink haired friend.

"What's wrong, Sakura-chan?"

Sakura played with the ends of her bangs nervously, "I…" Glancing at the abandoned Konoha headband that lay on the top of wet clothes and back to Kagome's curious gaze, "I was wondering, or hoping, I guess, that what Sasuke told you… didn't make you upset."

"Sakura..." With a small smile, Kagome ruffled Sakura's hair. "I never listen to that teme. Don't worry about it too much, kay?"

When she nodded, Kagome continued. "Anyway, please make sure to pass along where I am if someone asks." Not waiting for a reply this time around, Kagome left the room and quietly closed the door behind her, knowing that Inari was sleeping in the next room.

She gave a small backward glance at the door, "Thank you… Sakura."

As she descended the stairs, she never noticed the presence of the other dark-haired tween.

…

Sasuke stepped out of the house to see Kakashi reading his book on the porch. Upon his exit, Kakashi turned slightly to stare at him.

Obsidian eyes watched each other in silence.

"Sakura told me what happened at the clearing." Sasuke shoved his hands into his pockets but otherwise remained silent. Kakashi mentally sighed. "Sasuke, I specifically told you both that telling Kagome about the ransom note was forbidden."

"Why?" he argued. "She has just as much right to know that she's the reason Naruto was tak-"

"Stop it, Sasuke!"

"Why wasn't she allowed to know?"

Kakashi scrutinized his student's upturned face, and asked, "How do you think Kagome is feeling right now, Sasuke? You blamed her for everything and even questioned her loyalty to this team and by default, Konoha. Imagine for a second, Sasuke, how you would feel if someone pinned Naruto's death solely on you and claimed that you couldn't be trusted now. How would you handle that, Sasuke?"

"That's… hard to answer," he replied hesitantly, his right hand clenching a headband in his pocket.

"I see," Kakashi replied, before gazing out toward the forest in the direction that a certain Saiketsu had traveled toward just moments before. "She wasn't wearing her Konoha headband when she left. She probably feels that she doesn't deserve to wear it, seeing as how she believes she is at fault for her teammate's death."

Sasuke glared at his feet, knowing that Kakashi was right and knowing that it was his fault she felt that way.

"This time**,** Sasuke, you owe her a genuine apology."

"Ah**,**" Sasuke replied in a vague agreement, already walking toward their training ground.

When he found her, a wave of guilt hit him. Kagome sat at the base of a tree, crying loudly into the sleeves of her shirt arms. From the fact that both her weapon pouches lay forgotten a few feet from her, Sasuke easily deduced that she didn't come out to train.

He gripped the headband in his pocket.

_"Sasuke-kun… please apologize to Kagome."_

_"What?"_

_Sakura gathered her courage and looked her crush in the eyes, her resolve strong. "You heard me, Sasuke-kun. What you said to Kagome… it was cruel and untrue."_

_"Sakura, the note clearly asked for her. It's her fault Naruto is gone."_

_"Sasuke…" her teeth clenched. "How can you say that? Kagome… Kagome likes Naruto more than anyone! If she could take Naruto's place, I just know she would!" Sasuke stared at her in stunned silence as tears began to trickle down her cheeks. "Sasuke-kun, you must not realize how sad Kagome must feel right now. Even I," she hiccupped a sob, "Team Seven is falling apart, Sasuke. I haven't been able to do anything but watch you two fight and now this…"_

_"With Naruto gone… we're falling apart and I can't take it. Please, Sasuke-kun, please go and fix this. I don't want Naruto to come back to a broken team."_

He landed softly in the clearing; cringing slightly at the fact that Kagome was far too into her depression to even notice him. Gripping onto the damp headband in his pocket, he announced his presence.

"Saiketsu, get up."

"What…" Kagome's head raised up slowly, her eyes wide and tears still flowing as she stared up at him. "Uchiha…?"

He twisted his mouth angrily at her pitiful look. "I said get up**,** Saiketsu!"

Reaching into his pocket, he threw out a headband at her feet. The Konoha symbol shining bright in the moonlight.

"My headband?" She wiped away her tears and stood up, staring at Sasuke with clear confusion.

"You will fight me, Saiketsu." He shifted into a stance, his eyes bleeding red and one tomoe appearing in each.

"But Sas-"

"Shut up and fight me already**,** Saiketsu!" he smirked hauntingly. "Or is it maybe that you know you'll lose to me again, Second Place."

Kagome tensed, before kneeling to grab her headband. Standing up, her shoulders hunched, she wrapped her headband around her forehead seeing as how Sasuke did the same thing.

"Before we start, I want to know why…" Despite her whispering, Sasuke heard her clearly. "Why are we fighting, Uchiha?"

"I don't need to answer you. Not unless you beat me."

"Then I will get that answer." With that, she dropped into a simple taijutsu stance, a kunai already in one hand and a glare on her face.

Sasuke smirked. This is what he wanted. "We'll see."

…

Sakura stared up at her sensei from the dining table. "Sensei?" He gave her a small glance as to inquire about what she wanted. "Well, do you think this was really good plan? Sasuke-kun... he isn't one to apologize, I think."

Kakashi chuckled. "Perhaps you're right, Sakura, but I think things will work themselves out from now on."

The pink-haired girl twisted her lips in slight confusion. _Sensei sure is weird._

…

Kagome delivered a roundhouse kick, her heel connecting with Sasuke's chin. The sound of her foot colliding with bone made a resounding cracking noise through the otherwise silent forest.

The Uchiha rolled away from the girl, panting. She slowly lowered her foot down, breathing deeply in much the same way he was.

_That has to be the fifth time I've hit him… I'm not bad but I've never got this many hits on him with the Sharingan on. Is he letting me do this?_ Silver eyes narrowed as they watched the Uchiha stand.

"I don't understand," she murmured to herself, "are you holding back?"

The two stared at each other before running toward one another again. For a while it seemed as if the two were dancing as they attacked and blocked until, once again, Kagome managed a punch to his gut.

Growling through clenched teeth, Kagome grabbed the collar of his shirt and pulled him close to her face before he could collapse in silver eyes bore into his red ones. "Why are letting me hit you! The Uchiha I know would never let me get more than two hits when he has the Sharingan activated!"

Her face inched closer to his. "Are you underestimating me?! Because I know you always win but I'm not weak, Sasuke! I'm not… I'm not weak…"

She lowered her face, burying it in his shoulder. She missed the way his eyes widened at her action, the Sharingan also fading.

_This is the first time she's ever called me Sasuke. _He swallowed as her warm breath blew against his neck.

"Just tell me, please… All I want to know, Uchiha, is if you really think…" her body began to shake against his. "Was I really so weak that Naruto got taken? Is it really my fault?"

Sasuke did something unexpected then.

He brought up his hands and hugged her.

Tightening his grip as he swallowed his pride, Sasuke said, "I'm sorry."

Kagome quickly pushed away from him and stared at his face. "You-"

"I didn't mean anything I said earlier." The bruised boy stuffed his hands in his pocket, the small blush on his face hidden by the darkness, thankfully. "I was just frustrated. Naruto and me have known each other our entire lives and him being gone—" Sasuke shook his head and gave her a side glance, "All the things I said…that was just me being a jerk."

"No kidding."

He glared at her cheeky grin but it softened upon seeing her teary eyes.

"Stupid Uchiha! If you felt this guilty, you should've just said sorry!" She struggled to keep her grin but it slowly it fell as the tears began to pour out. "You're so stupid… so, so stupid!"

Sasuke stood awkwardly as she continued to curse him.

"But I guess I understand now." He gave her a surprised glance. "If something like this were to happen to one of my brothers, I'd be just as frustrated. So I guess… you don't really need to apologize."

When she shivered from the cold of the night, Sasuke decided the conversation had gone on long enough.

"As touching as it is to hear that, I think we've been out here too long," he said, already walking away from her. "Besides, I need some bandages." He looked back at her with a smirk, "And who better to patch me up then the one who got to hit me."

Kagome laughed loudly at that. "Alright, alright! Seems fair enough to me."

…

It was eight days later, one day after the bridge had finally been completed, that Team Seven faced down three people on the completed bridge that would come to be named, "Sakura's Bridge."

* * *

Note: Its... ALIIIVE! You guys don't know how long it took before the inspiration just clicked in my head! Gosh! But I gotta say, I really love this chapter and hopefully you guys do too. By the way, thank you to all the people who reviewed and to all the old followers who are still around! Also, thanks to the people who even just favorited and followed, it at least tells me someone is watching haha

Updated on January 29, 2013


	11. UPDATE

Tomorrow at around 6 a.m. (and that's for me here in Washington) I'll be posting the first chapter to the revised "Alterations"! I decided to create an entirely new story, so if you're interested in it, check out my profile for it.

I'm very excited for this! Its definitely been awhile but I finally got things organized where the story is concerned. I will be starting classes up again tomorrow as well, so don't expect regular updates. Also, I don't want to overwhelm myself or my BETA. Busy, busy lives we all have. I will try to set aside some time to write though, so hopefully at least one chapter a month.

Is that cool?

Some chapters won't even be long I think so maybe I can dish out two. We'll just have to see!

Anyway, there's the update, hope you faithful readers continue on to the newest revision. Its TOTALLY different but will retain some major points. I can't wait to finally start this, I've been excited for quite a while.

The new story will be titled, "Our Nindo"

MiniRoonie

January 12, 2014


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